Superwomen of Eva: Spirit
by Mike313
Summary: A simple act of laziness on the part of NERV has enormous consquences for Hikari Horaki, and, in turn, all of Tokyo-3.
1. Prologue

Prologue

Disclaimer: Neon Genesis Evangelion is the creation of Anno and property of Gainax. I don't own it, make no claims to it, and am making no profit from this fan fiction. No infringement of copyright is intended. In other words, please don't sue.

* * *

Prologue

_20 days before the First Battle of Tokyo-3…_

"Damn it!" Ritsuko Akagi swore, only barely resisting the urge to pound her fist on her desk in frustration.

"Looks like another one bites the dust, sempai," Maya sighed. "And this mixture looked so promising, too."

Ritsuko nodded silently. After Unit Zero had gone berserk during the experiment and injured Rei two days ago, Commander Ikari had ordered her to attempt to create a sedative that could be used to stop or at least calm down a rampaging Evangelion.

It had been nothing but one frustration after another so far, and Ritsuko was fairly sure that the Third Angel would arrive and disrupt the project before anything could possibly come of it. And if that were to happen, she'd have much more important things to worry about than an EVA sedative.

Every chemical mixture they'd tried so far had shown itself to be either ineffective or toxic to EVA when they mixed a bit of it in with some LCL and EVA tissue in a Petri dish, save for one.

They'd had to mix a dose of _that _one with several thousand gallons of LCL in order to determine that it wouldn't work, though Ritsuko had no damned idea why.

"EVA's physiology is too different from that of a human for sedatives made for a human to be expected to work, I suppose," Ritsuko mused, composing herself.

She gazed again at her screen, which was currently showing a magnified view of the LCL they were experimenting upon, transmitted from an electron microscope. The blond scientist sighed. She had never seen cells just _rupture_ like that.

"Dump the contaminated LCL," she ordered. "We'll go get lunch and see if we can't think up a new approach afterwards."

Maya entered in a few key stokes, then winced. "There's a block in the waste water pipeline, sempai," she said apologetically.

Her patience already expended, Ritsuko had to restrain herself from snapping at her protégé. Forcing herself to keep calm, she looked over Maya's shoulder and saw that there was indeed a clogged pipe in NERV.

"We'll have to call maintenance and get them to clear it," she sighed. "For now, though, use the other pipeline and dump the waste LCL into Lake Ashi."

"But sempai, that's where the city gets its drinking water from," Maya protested.

Ritsuko smiled wanly. "The lake is large enough that the sedative and LCL will be easily dissipated. It won't harm anyone so long as we don't make a habit out of it. No one will even taste the LCL."

"There are still traces of Unit Zero's DNA in the LCL, though," Maya argued.

Ritsuko silently admitted that she hadn't thought of that. However, she wanted that LCL gone in the worst way right now. It had become a symbol of all her frustrations that day.

"It's not a big deal," she said. "The odds of the EVA's genetic material affecting anyone in any noticeable or significant manner are only one in half a million. Incredibly unlikely things like that never happen around here."

"If you say so, sempai," Maya said, obviously dubious but obedient enough to do it anyway.

She typed in a few commands and the corrupted LCL was redirected to the pipeline the led right into Lake Ashi. Neither of them realized until it was much too late that roughly half a million people resided in Tokyo-3 at the moment.

* * *

Several miles away and a few hours later, Hikari Horaki was working on dinner. Which was no small task for the fourteen-year-old girl, considering that she was cooking for herself, her two sisters, and her father. Still, it was something she was used to and she did it without complaint.

However, no amount of practice could keep the human body from lodging its own form of complaint when one was working in a kitchen with both the oven and the stove going on a hot summer day.

"Whew," she panted, grabbing a paper towel and wiping the sweat off her brow. "It's like a sauna in here."

The girl gave her miso soup a quick stir, then she went over to the cupboard and grabbed a drinking glass. Too busy to root around the refrigerator for her favorite beverage, she simply poured herself tap water.

Hikari drank the entire glass in one large gulp, totally unaware that she was one in half a million, and went back to work on the meal.

* * *

Nozomi Horaki awoke with a yawn, a huge stretch, and the vague feeling that something was wrong. The eleven-year-old didn't know where the latter came from at first. She pondered it while she rubbed sleep out of her eyes.

Then the feeling crystallized into realization.

Her mornings did not begin with pleasant stretches and laid back yawns. No, her mornings began with her sister Hikari shaking her and telling her to get moving or she'd be late for school.

Suddenly fully awake and alert, she snapped her head to the side to look at her clock and was shocked to see that it was over an hour after when she should have gotten up.

Which begged the question, why hadn't Hikari woken her?

Nozomi got out of her futon and headed for Hikari's bedroom. "Nee-chan?" she called.

No response. Nozomi began to feel worried. Hikari would never forget to wake her up in the morning. The young girl's mind began to concoct all kinds of terrible scenarios that might have occurred to prevent Hikari from performing her sacred duty as human alarm clock.

Most of them involved evil ninjas.

Despite the nasty possibilities running through her mind, Nozomi steeled her courage and proceeded to Hikari's room, sliding open the screen before she could stop herself.

No ninjas, oni, or any other monsters lurked inside Hikari's room. The only living soul inside Hikari's room was, in fact, Hikari herself. Her older sister was still in her futon, apparently asleep.

This shocked Nozomi far more than ninjas would have. In her mind, a ninja attack was perfectly plausible, but Hikari sleeping in on a school day? Totally inconceivable.

"Nee-chan?" Nozomi said, rushing over to Hikari and shaking her gently.

Hikari's pajamas were soaked with sweat. The older girl's skin was cool and clammy. She opened her eyes in response to Nozomi, but the younger girl could easily see the glazed look in her sister's eyes. Hikari probably didn't even know who she was at the moment.

"Nee-chan!" Nozomi exclaimed. "Don't worry! I'll call Dad!"

* * *

Tanaka Horaki was a busy man, and he worked as a technician for NERV. Of course, at the moment, that was a redundant statement. The workload of everyone at NERV had increased dramatically since the failed Unit Zero activation experiment. It was as if the Commanders expected an Angel to arrive any day now and didn't want to be caught with their pants down, not that working their people to the bone as they were would help very much. Without a healthy EVA pilot, they would be in big trouble if an Angel arrived.

So, the single remaining male member of the Horaki family was overburdened and could ill afford to take a day off from work.

Yet when Nozomi called him and frantically told him that Hikari was extremely sick, he didn't hesitate to tell his supervisor that he had a family emergency to deal with and go speeding home.

Since his wife had passed away, his daughters were all Tanaka Horaki had left.

He made it from NERV headquarters to his home in record time, flinging the front door open hard enough to send it slamming against the wall, something he usually scolded Nozomi for doing.

"Nozomi!" he called.

The little girl rushed down the stairs to meet her father, still clad in pajamas. "Hikari didn't wake me up this morning so I went to see why not and I found her still in her futon and she was all cold and clammy but since I called you she's gotten really hot and I think she has a fever!" she exclaimed in a great rush.

Tanaka quickly made his way to Hikari's room, where he found his middle daughter in a state as sorry as his youngest daughter had described. He had been hoping that Hikari just had a simple cold and Nozomi had panicked unnecessarily.

"I'm taking her to the hospital," he said to Nozomi, who had followed him upstairs.

"What should I do?" Nozomi asked.

"Get dressed and go to school," Tanaka answered, gently picking up Hikari.

"But I wanna stay with nee-chan," Nozomi whined.

Tanaka took a deep breath. He knew Nozomi was being difficult out of fear for her sister, who had become like her mother in recent years. "I know," he said, "but you're not dressed, and I don't want to delay going to the hospital. Not with your sister like this."

Nozomi paused, silently acknowledging that her father was right, but not quite able to bring herself to part with Hikari just yet.

"I'll call you with any news, I promise." Tanaka said.

Nozomi nodded reluctantly. "All right, Dad."

* * *

"Well? What's the diagnosis, Doctor?" Tanaka asked.

Dr. Yamagata of Tokyo-3 Memorial Hospital adjusted his glasses nervously. The truth of the matter was he didn't have one, or at least, not one that he was sure about.

"It appears to be a virus, Horaki-san, perhaps a new strain of the flu," he answered. "Antibiotics are having no effect on your daughter's illness."

Of course, Yamagata mused, it wasn't flu season, and the girl's sickness wasn't behaving like any virus he knew. But he had no idea what else could possibly be wrong with the girl.

"So what are you going to do?" Tanaka asked.

"There's not much we can do," Yamagata answered apologetically. "She's just got to fight this off on her own. I'm releasing her. There's no need for her to remain here."

_Still, if this place wasn't so perpetually understaffed and underfunded, I'd probably keep her here for observation_, Yamagata added silently.

"I see," Tanaka said, frowning slightly.

"Just make sure she gets plenty of fluids and is kept warm and she should be fine in a few days," Yamagata added.

Tanaka nodded and headed off to pick up his daughter. Yamagata just shook his head and went off to see to his next patient.

In all fairness, Yamagata could probably be forgiven for releasing Hikari. He really hadn't seen any indication that whatever was wrong with her was worse than a bad virus. After all, it wasn't as though the hospital had to equipment to test if someone had absorbed alien DNA and was incorporating it into their genetic code. And while certain, careful scans would have revealed the walnut-sized S2 organ Hikari was developing, there had been absolutely no apparent reason to perform said scans.

* * *

Hikari was laid up in bed for three days as her body bore the pain of its unseen transformation. The teenager drifted in and out of a fitful sleep, barely conscious for enough time each day to eat and perform other necessary activities.

Kodama, the eldest of the three Horaki girls, did her best to take over the housework that Hikari usually did, somehow finding some time in the midst of her hectic college schedule. Unfortunately, she wasn't nearly so skilled at domestic activities as Hikari. In fact, she proved Nozomi's claim that she could burn water. Kodama, a chemistry major, insisted that it was impossible to burn water, that some cooking oil or something must have gotten into it. Nevertheless, the fact remained that she had managed to set off the house's smoke alarm while trying to boil water to make rice.

Nozomi dotted on Hikari in a way she would categorically deny later, placing cool damp rags on her forehead whenever Hikari's fever spiked. Had this not been the extent of her knowledge of how to treat Hikari, she would have done more.

Tanaka, seeing no improvement in his daughter's condition, resolved that if she wasn't getting better by the end of the week, he would take her back to the hospital and not leave until they had diagnosed exactly what was wrong and had begun fixing it.

That proved unnecessary, however. On the fourth day since she'd taken ill, when her sisters were at school and her father at work, Hikari's condition changed. Drastically.

She snapped awake abruptly, something that hadn't happened much recently. For the past few days, becoming fully conscious had been very much a struggle. However, she wasn't able to take any pleasure from being completely awake without having to fight for it.

She knew instinctively that something was very wrong.

Hikari felt deep, throbbing pain all throughout her body and would have screamed had the agony not stolen her breath away. Her body felt like it had an inferno raging inside of it. Had she burst into flames at that moment, she would have only been half surprised.

Then, the room was filled with the sound of fabric tearing. And, abruptly as it had begun, the agony and incredible heat ceased. She felt clear headed and pain free for the first time in days.

That didn't mean she felt _good_, however. Hikari was quite certain that something was wrong with her, very wrong. She didn't know what, but she had heard her pajamas ripping and that didn't exactly fill her with confidence.

Somewhat reluctantly, she got up and looked at herself in the mirror. She gasped in shock, slowly bringing her hands up over her mouth.

A huge pair of wings with feathers as white as snow had sprouted from her back.

* * *

Author's Notes: First of all, a big thanks to orionpax09, who was kind enough to give me the okay to give this fic a similar title to his (her? Ah, the wonders of the internet) own "female EVA character gets super powers" story, and it was from him that I got the idea. Go check his stuff out.

Secondly, I've decided to take a less comic book approach, so our super powered Hikari isn't going to have, say, the powers of Angel from the X-Men or something. I do hope to have the feel of a comic book in here somewhat, though it's possible I may not succeed in that.

Lastly, I'm pretty enthusiastic about this idea, but it's undoubtedly going to be a challenge for me. The reason being that, as a guy, the workings of a teenage girl's mind are not something I can claim to understand. (Maybe I should have given powers to an oft ignored male EVA character instead, but really, who would want to read about Super Kensuke?) So if I ever have Hikari acting in a way a teenage girl simply wouldn't, please feel free to let me know.


	2. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Neon Genesis Evangelion is the creation of Anno and Gainax. I don't own it, make no claims to it, and am making no profit from the fan fiction. No infringement of copyright is intended. In other words, please don't sue.

* * *

Chapter One

Hikari stood silently before the mirror for at least five solid minutes, totally frozen in shock.

"No," she muttered to her reflection, slowly advancing nearer to the mirror as if the wings would vanish upon closer inspection. "No…"

She realized dimly that the wings weren't the only change. Her previously brown eyes had become a pure red, similar to those of Rei Ayanami, and her hair had become a strangely luminescent silver. There wasn't a single brown strand left. It didn't look like the hair of an old woman, but then it didn't look like the hair of any normal human being at all.

"No," she whispered again, placing her palm against the cool glass of the mirror.

She swallowed, suddenly remembering something her father had said about NERV once. He usually didn't say anything about work, not even giving much of a response when one of his daughters asked how his day went. He claimed it was all secret, but that night he'd had a few too many cups of sake.

He said that NERV existed to destroy the Angels. And now here she was with a pair of angelic wings.

"No!" Hikari cried. "This…this isn't me! I don't look like this!"

Suddenly, Hikari began to change back. Her hair and eyes gradually became brown again and the wings shrank and seemed to retract into her back. Blinking in surprise, Hikari reached around and felt her back, finding that the skin was smooth and unbroken. Aside from the tears the wings had made in her pajama top when they'd emerged, there was no evidence of what had just happened at all.

Hikari frowned. Had she gone back to normal because she'd wanted to? Because she'd willed herself to?

"I…I have wings," she said softly.

Instantly, the wings emerged again and her hair and eyes returned to their unnatural colors from a few moments ago.

"No, I don't!" she squeaked.

Hikari let out a relieved sigh as she again returned to her normal state. She had no idea what exactly had happened to her or why, but it looked like she could keep it a secret.

* * *

"What the hell?!" Hyuga Makoto exclaimed, suddenly flinging his manga to the floor as he gave his terminal his full and undivided attention.

_No, it's impossible_, he thought as he began to type madly, demanding that the MAGI elaborate on the alert they had just sent him. If it were correct, they were in very big trouble. He could feel cold sweat beading on his brow as he worked.

"Something wrong, Hyuga?" Aoba asked, noticing his co-worker's sudden frenzy.

"A good question," said Vice Commander Fuyutski, who had apparently entered the command center while Makoto was too fixated on his work to notice. "Is something amiss, Lieutenant?"

"The MAGI detected what might have been a blue pattern, sir," Makoto answered, not bothering to turn around and face his superior just yet.

"What?!" Fuyutski demanded.

The MAGI finally relinquished further data to the technician and Makoto gave a small sigh of relief. "Looks like it was just a false alarm, sir," he said. "Whatever they picked up flickered for a few seconds and then just vanished. There was no AT field detected, and only Caspar is willing to affirm that there was indeed an unusual waveform pattern. The other two MAGI are withholding judgment."

"The detection system is still very new," Fuyutski said. "False positives were to be expected, I suppose. Still…it's generally not wise to discount a woman's intuition."

Makoto frowned. "Sir?"

"Where was this detected?" Fuyutski asked.

Makoto tapped a few more keys. "The northeastern quadrant of the city, sir. That's as far as the MAGI were able to narrow it down."

Fuyutski nodded. "I see. Well, keep an eye out for any further incidents, and notify me immediately if any do occur. We can't be too careful when it comes to the Angels."

"Yes, sir," Makoto said.

Fuyutski began to walk off, but stopped before he'd taken three steps. "Lieutenant?"

"Sir?" Makoto said, turning.

"Gundam Wing? Really?" Fuyutski asked, looking down at Makoto's discarded manga. "You honestly don't get enough of that sort of thing in real life?"

Makoto flushed. The technician opened and closed his mouth several times, trying to say something—anything—in his defense but found himself suddenly unable to form words.

The Vice Commander didn't stand around waiting for an answer. He simply walked off, not allowing a smirk to appear on his face until he was safely away from the control room and out of sight of the people there.

* * *

_Five days before the First Battle of Tokyo-3…_

Hikari scowled as she regarded her reflection in the mirror. She still looked entirely human. Indeed, she had not willed the wings to come out again since the day they had first emerged. However, other, less fantastic changes had occurred, ones she had no doubt were the result of whatever had given her the wings.

She had grown several inches taller in the past few days, to the point where she was nearly eye-to-eye with Toji Suzuhara. She had also grown in certain…other ways.

There was little she could do about her increased height besides buy new clothing that fit her. She had gone clothing shopping a few days ago, scowling slightly the whole time she went through the mall and partaking in what was usually one of her favorite activities. She had not purchased new bras, however, using the now too small ones she had to hide the increases to her endowments, despite how uncomfortable it was.

It was ironic, really. How many times had Hikari felt envious of her more 'gifted' female classmates? Yet now that she was the equal of any of them in that regard, she tried to hide it out of fear that it might lead to someone discovering her wings.

She'd gotten more than enough comments about how much taller she'd gotten recently, both at home and at school, to make her nervous. She didn't need people also noticing her new figure and wondering what had caused such dramatic changes. Even though most would conclude that nothing more supernatural than puberty was responsible, Hikari still didn't want to take the chance.

Well, there was no use brooding over it, she decided. Hikari finished dressing and went to rouse her sister.

"Wake up, Nozomi-chan," she said, entering the girl's room and shaking her. "We have to get going."

The younger girl groaned. "I'm up, I'm up," she said, sitting up with extreme reluctance, as usual.

"Good, now go shower and change," Hikari ordered.

Nozomi nodded and slowly got up and began to make her way to the bathroom, obviously still half asleep. Hikari shook her head and sighed softly. Right after she'd recovered, Nozomi had been all too glad when the usual routine had returned, greeting her in the mornings with a smile and a chipper hello. But that had worn off several days ago.

While Nozomi was in the shower, Hikari went downstairs and began to make their lunches. It was a task she was so used to by now that she didn't even need to think about it to do it anymore. Which was a lucky thing, since her mind was elsewhere that morning, specifically on her plans for what she was going to do after school.

Nozomi came down just as Hikari was finishing up. "Ohoyo, nee-chan," the now fully conscious girl greeted her.

"Ohoyo, Nozomi-chan," Hikari replied, handing the girl her bento. "Now let's get going or we'll be late."

"You mean you won't be early," Nozomi corrected, yawning as the two left the house and began the walk to school.

"Well, I am the class representative," Hikari said. "So I really should try and arrive early to set an example for everyone else."

"Uh-huh," was Nozomi's unimpressed reply.

Hikari resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Despite her best efforts, Nozomi simply didn't see the point of being a model student and probably never would. It made Hikari sometimes wonder if Nozomi had the same parents Kodama and she herself did.

"By the way, I'm going out this afternoon after school," Hikari said. "One of Kodama's classes was cancelled today, though, so she'll be at home with you."

Nozomi made a face.

"Oh, come on now, it's not that bad," Hikari chided.

"But Kodama always tries to make me help her with her lab work," Nozomi complained. "At least you only make me do my own homework. Speaking of homework, I thought you had a ton of the stuff. How do you have the time to go out?"

"All my homework's finished," Hikari answered. "I just applied myself and did it. That sort of thing can have benefits, you know. You might want to try it sometime."

Nozomi rolled her eyes. Hikari let it go. Normally she would've said something, but she had sort of cheated with getting her homework done. Ever since her transformation, Hikari had discovered that she only needed about four hours of sleep to be awake and alert for the other twenty hours of the day. Indeed, even if she wanted to sleep for eight hours, she simply couldn't anymore. So she had several hours all to herself in the middle of the night when she couldn't do much besides study without disturbing her family's sleep.

"So, where are you going?" Nozomi asked. "On a hot date with a boy maybe?"

Her sister's teasing accusation immediately caused her mind to flash to Toji, which in turn caused her to blush slightly. Deciding she needed to nip this topic in the bud as soon as possible, Hikari made use of her best class rep tone of voice.

"No, Nozomi, and it's not nice to tease people. To answer your question, I'm just going to the mall for a little bit," Hikari lied.

"Okay, okay, no need to bite my head off, nii-chan," Nozomi grumbled.

The two girls had arrived at the school by this point, bringing an end to their conversation as they went their respective ways.

Class 2-A had been even harder to control than usual lately, probably due to her brief leave of absence. Her fellow classmates had somehow managed to become used to the lack of authority in the classroom during the mere few days she'd been ill, and Hikari still hadn't completely gotten things entirely back to the way she liked them.

_If only Sensei had a more hands-on approach, this probably wouldn't have happened,_ she mused.

Hikari shook her head slightly. It was wrong to think ill of their teacher. It wasn't the aged man's fault that he didn't have the energy to control the class by himself anymore. Still, sometimes she felt that both her home and her school would completely collapse if something were to happen to her, and the results of her recent bout of sickness hadn't dissuaded her of that notion.

It was nice to feel needed, but sometimes the pressure of having to always be so dependable and strict got to her.

Sensei walked into the classroom, and Hikari sprang into action. "Stand! Bow! Sit!"

* * *

School ended that afternoon, as it always did. Hikari walked Nozomi home, where Kodama was indeed waiting to force the youngest Horaki girl into playing lab assistant for the afternoon. The eldest Horaki was clad in a white lab coat, and the moment she saw Nozomi, she produced another one and draped it over her youngest sister's shoulders. The second coat was much smaller than Kodama's but still comically large on Nozomi.

Nozomi turned and gave Hikari a pleading look that clearly said, "Please don't go. She thinks I like this!"

Hikari decided she'd better finish her business quickly, lest they blow up the kitchen.

Kodama was a chemistry major, and she was very good at her chosen field. However, she tended to overestimate Nozomi's diligence when she pressed the young girl into service, often not bothering to check if the little girl had really handed her what she'd asked for. The results hadn't yet been explosive, but Hikari didn't want to push their luck.

"Have a good time at the mall, Hikari-chan," Kodama called absently as Hikari made her way out the door, still in her uniform and carrying her school bag.

Hikari gave a quick good-bye and then made good her escape. Whispering a quick prayer that the house would still be intact when she returned, she made her way to a nearby train station.

However, she didn't board the train that would take her to the commercial district on the other side of Tokyo-3. Instead, she got on the one that would take her to the very edge of the city.

Tokyo-3 existed in a valley that was ringed by mountains and hills, with the exception of the southern part of the city, which bordered Lake Ashi. Near the stop where Hikari got off the train was a particularly large hill, tall but not very steep, that was popular enough with hikers to have a decent path made by people's feet. But since it was a workday, Hikari would probably be the only person on it, which suited her fine.

After an hour of brisk walking, she was a decent ways up the mountain, which put her high enough to see most of Tokyo-3 below. It was a breathtaking view, but Hikari hadn't come to look.

She performed a quick search for any other people in the area, just to be safe. When she was satisfied that she was quite alone, Hikari set down her school bag and opened it, pulling out another set of clothes.

Part of which was the pajama top she'd ruined when her wings had ripped their way out of it.

Her first impulse after it had happened had been to destroy the garment, but she'd realized that it could be useful if she wanted to let her wings out again without ruining another shirt or, even worse, going topless for a while. Besides, she did almost all the laundry at home, anyway, so there was little chance of someone else finding it and asking awkward questions.

Hikari slipped it on, along with a pair of jeans, after removing and carefully folding her school uniform. She packed the uniform into her bag for the moment, then took a deep breath.

"I have wings," she whispered.

And immediately she did, the two wings emerging painlessly from her back, her hair and eyes changing to silver and red. Hikari couldn't help but smile at the sensation. It felt very strange, having wings. In fact, on one level it felt downright alien.

Yet somehow just having the wings out made her feel incredibly alive.

Still smiling, Hikari looked about briefly, soon spotting what she was looking for. The teenage girl bent down and scooped up a rock about the size of a potato. She held it in her right hand and gently squeezed it.

The rock was instantly reduced to a handful of dust and gravel.

Hikari wasn't surprised. She'd gotten a lot stronger since her first transformation, to the point that she had accidentally broken a number of things before she learned how to control her new strength. Fortunately, her father and Kodama simply attributed all her little accidents to clumsiness caused by her recent growth spurt.

But while she was much stronger in her normal form than she had been, she wasn't anywhere near strong enough to shatter a solid rock like that. She had just somehow known intuitively that she would be much, much stronger still in her angelic form.

She knew a lot of things about her new abilities intuitively, or she thought she did anyway. One such thing was that she felt quite sure of was that her wings weren't just for show. Something inside her told her that she could actually fly.

Her head, of course, told her that was madness. She was far too heavy to fly, unless her bones had hollowed out without her having been aware of it, which she doubted. She probably couldn't fly even if that were the case, the human body being a thing that simply wasn't made for it.

But the strange feeling of certainty that the laws of physics she knew didn't apply so strongly to her when she was in her angelic form had grown strong enough to get her out here.

_No more hesitating,_ she thought. _I didn't come all this way just to chicken out and go home._

Unwilling to try taking off by taking a leap off something, Hikari began to flap her wings as hard as she could, the resulting gusts soon sending fallen leaves flying everywhere.

By the third beat of her large wings, her feet had risen off the ground. Hikari was so shocked that she nearly stopped flapping her wings. "I can fly," she whispered.

A huge, delighted grin slowly formed on her face. "I can fly!" she shouted, abruptly ascending as quickly as if she'd been fired from a cannon.

Hikari flew over the mountain as quickly as she could, relishing the feeling of the wind blowing through her hair almost as much as the sensation of pure, unbridled freedom. She laughed as she performed various aerial acrobatics, some more successfully than others.

_Maybe whatever happened to me isn't so bad after all,_ she mused. _I've never felt so…so liberated, so powerful._

She was mildly surprised that "powerful" was one of the words that first came to mind, but Hikari had to admit that it seemed appropriate. Her whole body felt almost like it was on fire, like she was just so full of boundless energy and strength…

Hikari barely noticed the sphere of white light that was forming by her palm in time. With a small yelp, she held her hand out and away from her. She squeezed her eyes tightly shut. She heard a strange whistling sound, following by what she believed was an explosion.

Hoping she was wrong, Hikari opened her eyes.

She gasped, feeling a ball of ice forming in her stomach. A good portion of the hillside had been blown clean off. A number of trees had been leveled, and a fire blazed in the shape of a cross.

The unadulterated joy she'd been swimming in a moment ago now as completely shattered as Antarctica, Hikari wasted no time in retreating from the scene. She grabbed her bag, flew down to the foot of the mountain, and changed back to her normal form, vowing to never release the wings again.

She had no idea how soon she would break that vow.

* * *

_Four days before the First Battle of Tokyo-3…_

"You are certain all records of the incident have been completely erased from the MAGI?" Gendo asked.

"Yes. This is the only remaining copy of the data we collected on the incident," Ritsuko answered, placing a tan folder on Gendo's desk. "If this is destroyed, it will be like it never even happened."

"Save for the crater blasted into the side of the mountain, and the fact that everyone saw the fire," Fuyutski grumbled, crossing his arms.

"There are many ways to explain away such things, Sensei, but there could be only one explanation for an AT field," Gendo said, then turned back to Ritsuko. "Anything else to report, Doctor?"

"No, sir. All the information we have is there," she said, gesturing to the folder.

"Then you are dismissed," Gendo said.

Akagi nodded respectfully and made her way out of Gendo's cavernous office, her footfalls echoing eerily in the mostly empty room as she went.

"First the illegal dumping that's given the public relations department a coronary and now this spectacular failure of the Angel detection system. It may be wise to make some changes in Technical Division One," Fuyutski commented.

"No," Gendo said, already looking through the folder.

"No?" Fuyutski responded, trying to keep from sounding too incredulous. "Ikari, something took a chunk out of a small mountain with a cross-shaped blast and the MAGI can't even all agree that there was an AT field detected. How can we accept that level of incompetence?"

"Melchior has always been the most difficult to convince of anything," Gendo commented. "It is the nature of that computer, being so scientifically inclined. It is a skeptic."

"But still—"

"Have I ever struck you as the type of person that would tolerate incompetence because of sentimentality, Sensei?" Gendo interrupted.

The air in the huge room suddenly grew charged. Fuyutski knew that Gendo was sleeping with Ritsuko, and Gendo knew that Fuyutski knew and didn't approve. It was one of the many things the two men had an unspoken agreement to never bring up. Now Gendo clearly felt that Fuyutski was accusing him of keeping Ritsuko around because of his relationship with her.

But Fuyutski knew Gendo too well to believe that the Commander would ever let sentimentality cloud his judgment, at least when it came to Ritsuko Akagi. "No, of course not," Fuyutski said.

Gendo nodded, the atmosphere in the room relaxing again. "Then the fact that I find this excusable should be a clear indicator of the fact that it is," he said. "Circumstances prevent the system from being tested extensively outside of actual Angel confrontation situations. Additionally, the Dead Sea Scrolls have led us to believe that most of the Angels will be enormous creatures that would be fairly slow and thus easily scanned. This was neither."

"Do you have any idea what this was, Ikari?" Fuyutski asked.

"No. The only thing I am certain of was that it was not the Third Angel. There was nothing about this in the scrolls."

Gendo hid it excellently, but Fuyutski knew him well enough to see just how much that disturbed the man. The Supreme Commander of NERV prided himself on being adaptable. However, unforeseen Angels could overwhelm even his ability to keep things under control.

Fuyutski looked down at the papers Gendo was going through. He had already seen all the information inside, but there was one piece of it that he felt compelled to check and recheck to make sure he hadn't misread it.

The waveform pattern of the AT field that two of the MAGI believed they'd detected had shifted wildly back and forth from blue to red during the few minutes they'd tracked the small, swift thing. Blue was the pattern of the Angels. Red was the pattern of Man. The two simply shouldn't be able to exist in tandem like that.

"Why delete all the records, then?" Fuyutski asked.

"The old men grow increasingly skittish as the time draws near," Gendo said. "Such an unexpected turn might cause one or more of them to do something rash. Also, every bit of knowledge we possesses and they do not is a potential weapon to be used against them."

"And how will you use this knowledge?" Fuyutski asked.

"I do not know yet, Sensei," Gendo admitted. "But I will find out what generated this AT field. If it can be used to further the scenario in some way, I will use it. If it is nothing more than a hindrance, I will have it destroyed."

* * *

Author's Notes: Well, here's the first chapter of Spirit. I hope you enjoyed it. We'll get into the series proper next chapter, I promise.

To those who reviewed this, thank you very much. This is my first outing here on FFN, and any words of encouragement are welcomed, along with constructive criticism.

KuMardagg, in all honestly, I never really thought about giving Hikari four wings. I guess I forgot Adam had two pairs. Besides, I wanted her to have two because that's what people tend to think of angels as having, and I wanted Hikari to freak out as a result of that and knowing NERV's mission. She's going to be having fun with these powers, but they'll be giving her a few EVA-sized headaches as well.

Also, thank you for your suggestion, however, I really want Hikari to remain Hikari mentally, and that means she act like a teenage girl at least part of the time. Otherwise I feel like I'd be writing a story about a different character that just happens to have the same name. As to why the EVA's DNA wouldn't affect Hikari's brain, well, it's my pet theory that the brain as we have it is essentially the "Fruit of Knowledge" the same way the S2 organ is the "Fruit of Life." So a Fruit of Life's beings DNA wouldn't have any effect on the Fruit of Knowledge. Does it make sense? Probably not, but we're already well into pseudoscience territory anyway.

Kenzie, I'm glad you like my version of the Horaki family. I have to admit I had a lot of fun with the freedom afford by the fact that these characters were never even seen in the show.


	3. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Neon Genesis Evangelion is the creation of Anno and Gainax. I don't own it, make no claims to it, and am making no profit from the fan fiction. No infringement of copyright is intended. In other words, please don't sue.

* * *

Chapter Two

_Day of the First Battle of Tokyo-3…_

Ever since a Third World War was barely averted in the wake of Second Impact, most countries on Earth had belatedly erected shelters for civilians in the event that all hell did break lose after all. They were largely unnecessary in the age of relative peace ushered in by the reforms the UN had undergone, and most local governments had begun to grow lax about performing regular drills to make sure the people knew where to go and what to do in the event of an emergency.

Tokyo-3 was a rather huge exception to this. The MAGI staged at least two drills per month, often more. So when the sirens went off, the populace calmly made their way down to the huge, modern shelters, totally undisturbed by the cries of "This is not a drill!" mixed in with the various other announcements.

Anything could become mundane if it also became routine.

It was a Sunday, so Hikari didn't have to worry about making sure that all of class 2-A made it to the shelter. Her only concerns were her sisters, since her father had been called into NERV, and they got to the shelter with no difficulties.

"How long do you think we'll be here?" Nozomi asked.

"No way to tell, I suppose," Kodama replied, unrolling a sleeping bag just in case it was a while. "What do you think, Hikari-chan?"

Hikari didn't reply. The middle Horaki had her head turned away from her sisters and appeared to be gazing off into space.

Kodama snapped her fingers in front of her sister's face. "Hikari!"

She jumped. "Oh, gomen, Kodama, what were you talking about?"

"We were just wondering how long we'd be stuck down here," Kodama answered. "Are you all right? You're not afraid, are you?"

"No, of course not," Hikari replied a bit more sharply than she'd intended.

The truth was that she _was_ afraid. Terrified in fact, and not because of the fact that "this is not a drill." What really scared her was that she could sense the monstrosity that had made everyone's flight to the shelters necessary. She wasn't entirely sure _how_ she could sense it, but if forced to put it into words, she would say she could detect it in almost the same way one could feel it when someone was looking at them.

The thing was huge and powerful, and it sent shivers down her spine to focus on it for too long.

_Just ignore it,_ she told herself. _NERV will take care of it, that's what NERV exists to do._

Up above, a boy named Shinji Ikari was being informed that no phone lines were currently available due to the state of emergency.

* * *

"Mari!" Toji Suzuhara called as he jogged through the shelter. "Mari! Where are you?"

The jock was growing increasingly frantic with every second that his younger sister failed to materialize. The longer he searched and failed to find her, the more likely it seemed that the worst could have happened.

Mariko Suzuhara was mildly claustrophobic, and being stuck underground for hours on end didn't sit well with her. She had promised him that she wouldn't try and sneak above ground, but he had seen her getting more jittery and anxious with every hour that passed.

He had only taken his eyes off her for a few minutes to go to the bathroom, and when he'd returned, she'd vanished.

"MARI!" he shouted at the top of his lungs.

There was no response from his little sister. However, a number of people did give him dirty looks or snap at him to not be so loud. Toji managed to resist the urge to give those people the finger, but it was a very close thing.

"Suzuhara?"

Startled, he quickly spun around to face the person who'd called his name. Toji was surprised to see the class rep, though he didn't know why. He knew they lived near enough to each other to be in the same shelter, but seeing the class rep on a Sunday still felt very odd, almost like seeing Christmas decorations in August.

"Hey, class rep," he said. "Have you seen my sister anywhere?"

"Your sister? No, I haven't," Hikari answered. "She's missing?"

Toji nodded. "Yeah, I'm starting to suspect that she went up top. She hates being underground," he sighed. "Class rep, would it be too much to ask for you to search for Mari down here while I go to the surface and look for her?"

"What?! Suzuhara, you can't go to the surface!" she exclaimed, instantly snapping into class rep mode.

"This isn't a school day, class rep," Toji said firmly. "If you don't want to help me, you don't have to, but I'm going up top to look for Mari."

Hikari sighed. "All right," she said. "I'll help."

Toji bowed. "Thank you, Hikari-san."

She blushed slightly as he quickly sped off. _He called me by my name,_ she thought dreamily.

Hikari quickly composed herself, however, as the gravity of the situation began to sink in. Her crush's little sister was in danger, and while it was possible that Mari was still in the shelter somewhere, it didn't seem likely that the girl could have missed hearing her brother bellowing for her.

If Mari was outside, she was in a huge amount of danger, of that Hikari had no doubt. And if she'd wandered away from the entrance to the shelter, then finding her presented a near impossible task, even in a city that was otherwise deserted.

Unless, of course, she could search from high up, and move very quickly.

Reaching a snap decision, Hikari went back to where her sisters were and told them that she was going to help one of her classmates find his lost sister. She asked Kodama to keep an eye on Nozomi, and then rushed off.

It looked like Toji had already managed to get out of the shelter by the time she arrived at the exit, finding the heavy doors that led to the surface left standing open. Only the final one was sealed, Toji apparently having closed it behind himself when he left. Hikari easily opened that one and stepped outside, shutting it behind her.

There was no sign of either Toji or Mari in the eerily silent street outside the shelter's door. Taking a deep breath, Hikari rushed back to her house as fast as her legs could carry her.

She couldn't go flying through the city in her regular clothes, after all. The chance of someone—most likely someone from NERV—getting a good look at her was simply too high. Fortunately, she already had an idea in mind for a disguise.

Hikari made her way straight to Kodama's cluttered room as soon as she was inside, searching through the depths of her sister's chaotic closet. Luck must have been with her, because she soon came up with what she sought: a costume, complete with mask. Kodama had worn it the one time she'd tried cosplaying, back when she was roughly Hikari's age.

With her object in hand, Hikari wasted no time heading down to the kitchen, where she got a knife and carefully cut slits in the back of the costume for her wings. She then ran back upstairs, to her own room this time, to change.

The top of the costume had its own underwire, so Hikari opted to discard her bra as well as she changed. When she actually got into the thing, however, and realized just how low cut it was, she wished that she hadn't.

_What the hell was Kodama thinking?_ She wondered as she strapped on the mask, blushing and trying not to take note of just how well she filled out the crazy getup.

Well, she was in too much of a hurry to worry about her appearance. Besides, the whole point of the costume was to keep anyone from knowing who she was, and she suspected that even her father might not recognize her in it, especially once she transformed.

Speaking of which…

"I have wings," Hikari said, striding outside her house, and pulling the ties out of her hair for good measure, undoing the pigtails and allowing it to flow freely.

She felt the feathery appendages emerge from her back, and she was soon in the air, flying over the streets of Tokyo-3 in search of Mariko Suzuhara.

* * *

Toji was so relieved when he finally caught sight of his sister, long after late afternoon had turned to night, that he very nearly burst into tears. He restrained himself, however.

Crying wasn't manly, after all.

Still, concerns about manliness didn't stop him from hugging his panicked sister as tightly as he could, not caring as her tears were soaked up by his track suit.

"What the hell made you leave the shelter?" he demanded, the fear he'd been experiencing for the last few hours suddenly morphing into anger. "I told you not to leave!"

"Gomen nasai!" Mari sobbed, still hugging him. "I…I couldn't stand being in that cave anymore! Even being…even being near the entrance was giving me chills! So…so I decided to walk about a block away. And I got turned around somehow and I've been wandering around looking for the shelter since then! I'm sorry, nii-chan! I'll never do it again, I promise!"

Toji sighed, his anger quickly evaporating. Clearly Mari had suffered more than enough for her stupid decision.

"Come on, let's—"

He stopped mid sentence when the earth shook beneath them. Toji and Mari turned to see the behemoth figure of the Third Angel stride into view from behind several massive skyscrapers.

"What is that?" Mari whispered, as though the giant might hear her from its position a good thirty blocks away.

"I don't know," Toji whispered back. "An Angel?"

A moment later, a huge trap door behind the monster opened up, and an equally huge purple robot was risen up through it, appearing to glare at the dark green monster.

"Is…that what NERV built to destroy the Angels?" Toji wondered aloud.

Mari didn't reply, too transfixed by the sight of the two titans staring one another down. Toji, too, felt like he was bolted to the ground all of a sudden.

The purple robot tried to took a step forward…and promptly fell flat on its face, causing the ground to tremble beneath the two kids' feet again. "Geeze, who's driving that thing?" Toji exclaimed.

The Angel marched forward and grabbed the robot's head. Mari looked away as the Angel proceeded to beat the hell out the robot, but Toji kept his eyes glued to the battle.

Suddenly, just when he had given up all hope of the robot even putting up any kind of a fight, the tide turned dramatically. The purple robot swung back into action, charging the Angel, but soon slammed into a wall of orange light. The pilot of the robot was apparently not to be denied, however, as the robot tore through the orange shield as though it were made from cellophane and continued on. The robot leapt at the Angel, landing right on top of it and clawing at the thing. It shrugged off all the Angel's attempts stop it, eventually charging it, slamming into the beast and sending it flying down the street.

Which had the effect of abruptly bringing the battle far too close to the Suzuhara children for comfort.

"Run!" Toji cried, grabbing Mari's hand and half-dragging the girl along as he broke into a sprint.

For several seconds, Toji thought there was a chance that they could get far enough away in time. Then, he tripped and both of them went sprawling to the pavement. Ignoring the scrapes he got from the fall, Toji turned to look at the battle again.

He was just in time to see the Angel latch onto the robot and explode spectacularly, turning night into day in Tokyo-3.

Toji and Mari screamed as debris from the explosion flew toward them at terrifying speeds. The jock clutched onto his sister, shielding her as much as possible, and squeezed his eyes shut.

The seconds dragged out, and to Toji's surprise, nothing hit the two of them, pain didn't explode from any part of his body, and Mari didn't scream in agony.

_It must still be coming, _he thought. _I'm so afraid time is stretching out…or something._

"Nii-chan," Mari whispered.

He finally risked opening his eyes…and gasped.

Standing before him was one of the most attractive girls he'd ever seen. She had long silver hair that glowed in the moonlight, and large white wings. Yet even these unusual features could not hold his full attention for long, not when he realized just how…impressive her figure was. Her yellow skirt only came down to about mid thigh, giving him a good look at her long, shapely legs. Her top was white with gold trim, and hugged her body in places like a second skin. It was also rather low cut, so much so that Toji felt a nosebleed coming on and quickly snapped his gaze up to the girl's red eyes, which peeked out through a gold colored mask.

He rushed to his feet, pulling Mari to hers along with him.

The winged girl smiled impishly at him. "So, what are a couple of cuties like you two doing out at a time like this?" she asked in a sultry voice.

"Uh…" Toji stammered dumbly, feeling like a deer caught in the headlights.

"I left the shelter because I don't like being underground," Mari spoke up in a small voice. "My brother here came to look for me. Arigato for saving us."

"It was my pleasure," the girl said. "I can't let a kawaii girl like you get hurt, now can I?"

She then turned to Toji with a such a _hungry_ look in her eyes that the jock was actually kind of intimidated by it. "Or a handsome guy like you," she added, running the tip of her index finger down the bridge of his nose.

Mari giggled. "Oooh, nii-chan's got a girlfriend!"

"Mari, shut up!" Toji hissed.

Any response the little girl might have made was cut off as the sound of sirens filled the air, probably NERV emergency vehicles on their way to see to whatever crazy idiot was inside the giant robot, Toji realized.

"I have to get going," the winged girl said, suddenly sounding much less playful than she had a moment ago. "You two should probably head back to the shelter, too. If you're lucky, no one will realize you were gone and you won't be punished for leaving."

"Hey, wait a second!" Toji blurted out. "What's your name?"

"Are you an angel?" Mari added.

The winged girl hesitated, turning to look at the now giant robot and the remains of the Angel. "No, I'm not," she said. "Call me…Spirit."

And with that, she beat her wings and was soon flying through the sky. Mari let out a squeal of delight at seeing their savior fly like a bird. Toji, as soon as he got over the additional shock, tried to catch a glimpse of her panties, but to no avail.

* * *

"The Angel's pattern has vanished," Makoto announced from his place in the NERV command center. "The target has been destroyed."

"Thank goodness," Misato breathed. "Stand down from first stage alert and scramble recovery teams immediately! The pilot is our—"

"AT field detected!" Aoba suddenly shouted, cutting her off.

"What?" Misato demanded, feeling her heartbeat starting to accelerate rapidly. "Is there another Angel?"

This was very bad, she realized. They hadn't counted on more than one Angel attacking at once, and NERV was almost completely tapped out. With Shinji and Unit One down for the count, all they had left was a severely injured Rei Ayanami and Unit Zero, which was still trapped in bakelite.

"The pattern is red/blue," Maya said. "It's the same anomaly from before."

"Anomaly?" Misato asked with a confused frown.

Commander Ikari ignored her. "Pinpoint it," he barked. "I want it found and identified. That is your first priority!"

"Roger!" the bridge techs replied as one and turned to the task.

A very confused Misato watched as they brought up a map of Tokyo-3 on the main screen. A moment later, a roughly circular blob of red was overlaid on the map, which was marked as the "Search Area." It began to shrink the instant it appeared on the screen as the MAGI honed in on whatever they were looking for.

Then it began to move to the west.

"Target's on the move," Makoto reported.

"We can see that, Lieutenant," Fuyutski commented dryly.

All of a sudden, the red blob winked out, the words "Target Lost" appearing over the map of the city.

"Gone again," Aoba said. "Sorry, sir, but we've lost it. The MAGI can no longer detect any AT field or unusual waveform patterns."

"I see," Gendo said. "All records of this encounter with the anomaly are to be deleted, save for a single hard copy."

And with that, the Commander of NERV left the command center, followed closely by Fuyutski. Misato watched them go.

_What the hell was _that_ all about?_ She wondered. _Ugh, never mind. I have more important things to worry about right now._

"Stand down from first stage alert!" she ordered again. "Get recovery teams moving now! The pilot is our first priority!"

* * *

Author's Notes: Well, there you have it. We've finally entered the actual series, and Hikari got to enjoy her first romp as a superhero. If you were surprised by her wildly different behavior, I can't say I blame you. It'll be explained next chapter, but for now I'll just say that the reason for it is more mundane than you probably believe.

By the way, the thing with Toji trying to look up Spirit's skirt was largely just a joke/reference to Shinji's dream in episode 26, where Toji excitedly asks him if he's seen Rei's panties. Please don't think _too _poorly of the boy for it.

Before you ask, I don't know who Kodama was cosplaying as. I was too lazy to go looking through female anime characters to find one with the kind of outfit I had in mind for Spirit's debute. Knowing how common girls with short skirts and low cut tops are in anime, however, I'm sure there must be some character in one anime or another that dressed like that.

As always, many thanks to all those who reviewed. Your comments are well appreciated.

Fifth Horseman, thanks. I recently earned my BA in journalism, and as a result of education I tend to be really anal about spelling and grammar, even when writing fanfiction.

Dragoon, no powers for Shinji, I'm afraid. Him not getting super powers is kind of the point of the Superwomen of EVA series, since he so frequently gets powers in other fics.

Animefan, thanks for pointing that out. I try to be careful about the Japanese, but I tend to mix up nee and nii despite my best efforts.


	4. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: Neon Genesis Evangelion is the creation of Anno and Gainax. I don't own it, make no claims to it, and am making no profit from the fan fiction. No infringement of copyright is intended. In other words, please don't sue.

* * *

Chapter Three

Kensuke Aida considered himself a fairly simple man, with fairly simple desires. Indeed, there were really only two things he wanted in life: women and action, the latter of a military variety (though if the former also presented itself to him in the military variety, well, he certainly wouldn't have said no to a hot girl in camouflage).

So when Toji told him he'd been outside the shelter during the battle against the Angel, Kensuke had immediately begun to bombard his friend with questions about this great historic event. However, a lot of the information he got was not exactly what he'd expected.

"Let me get this straight," Kensuke began slowly. "The giant robot started winning, and the Angel got desperate and self-destructed, sending stuff flying everywhere, including right at you and your sister. You're sure you're about to be crushed, and then suddenly a girl with wings wearing some kind of superhero costume swoops out of nowhere, and blocks everything with a shield of orange light just like the one the Angel had."

"Yeah, I saw it," Toji insisted.

He actually hadn't seen it, having closed his eyes, but Mari hadn't been able to look away and had told him what he'd missed seeing. And there was no way he was going to tell people he'd squeezed his eyes shut while his little sister had watched everything.

"Toji…are you sure you didn't faint and dream this up or something?" Kensuke asked slowly.

"I'm telling you I saw her!" Toji snapped. He sighed dreamily. "Man, she was so hot."

"You realize that the fact that the winged girl who saved you was hot doesn't make this story any more believable, right?" Kensuke asked dryly. "If anything, it does just the opposite."

"It's all true, damn it!" Toji exclaimed, frustrated.

"Uh-huh, sure it is."

* * *

While heading into school, Hikari was still wondering what had caused her to behave the way she had when she had saved Suzuhara and his sister. She could still barely believe the way she'd acted!

She certainly hadn't planned on acting like that. If she'd planned on anything after using her powers to save them, it had been giving them both a stern talking to about the dangers of leaving the shelter during a state of emergency.

But the knowledge that she could say absolutely anything to her long time crush and that he would have no idea it was her, no way to link her words to the forever proper representative of class 2-A…well, it had been intoxicating. Intoxicating enough that she'd said things she would otherwise never say and done things she would otherwise never do. And the worst part?

She had liked it! She had liked it a lot!

It was rare for her to not feel shy, at least when she wasn't being the class rep, but Spirit obviously wasn't the least bit bashful. Completely frying Toji's mind with a few words and a chaste touch hadn't exactly ruined her night, either.

So, despite her confusion and surprise about her own behavior, Hikari was in high spirits as she arrived at school and parted ways with Nozomi. And why shouldn't she be? She had done real good the other night, saving two innocents from becoming collateral damage in the battle against the Angel.

"Toji…are you sure you didn't faint and dream this up or something?"

Hikari turned and observed a skeptical looking Kensuke speaking with an increasingly frustrated Toji. She smiled to herself, able to guess what they were talking about.

"I'm telling you I saw her!" Toji snapped. He sighed. "Man, she was so hot."

Hikari's eyes widened, and her amused smile grew into a broad grin. _He…he thinks I'm hot?_

"You realize that the fact that the winged girl who saved you was hot doesn't make this story any more believable, right?" Kensuke asked dryly. "If anything, it does just the opposite."

"It's all true, damn it!" Toji exclaimed, frustrated.

"Uh-huh, sure it is."

"Excuse me, Suzuhara?" she said, approaching the otaku and the jock.

Toji turned at once. "Um, hey, class rep," he greeted her nervously. "What can I do for you?"

Hikari frowned slightly. Toji was not looking at her the way a boy looked at a girl he found attractive. Admittedly, she didn't exactly know what that looked like, but she didn't have to; she recognized the way he was looking at her now. She had seen it often enough.

The look Toji was wearing right now said, "Why is the class rep talking to me? Am I in trouble? Could she possibly know about…?"

Hikari suddenly felt deflated. "Um, how is your sister? You found her all right, I hope," she said with none of the confidence Spirit had been overflowing with.

"Yeah, yeah I did," Toji answered, looking relieved that she hadn't come to yell at him.

"I'm glad," Hikari said and turned to head back to her seat.

She felt like such an idiot. What was she expecting to happen? Him to realize that she was Spirit and ask her out on the spot? Him to subconsciously know she was Spirit and be madly attracted to her for reasons he didn't understand yet couldn't resist?

Yes, she realized to her embarrassment. On some level she had expected these things, and realizing it made her feel like the world's biggest moron.

"Hey, class rep," Toji called after her.

She turned back around to look at him. Toji got up from his seat and bowed formally to her. "Thank you for helping me search for my sister the other night," he said.

Hikari smiled. "You're welcome, Suzuhara."

She went and sat back down at her own desk feeling a bit better but still far from content. Toji didn't think _she_ was attractive, he thought Spirit was attractive, and it wasn't too hard to figure out why. Hikari Horaki was the good girl and the vaguely menacing authority figure who wore a bra that was too small to stifle her endowments. Spirit was the mysterious and exotic woman who let it all hang out, figuratively and almost literally. The fact that they were actually the same person was immaterial.

_Crud, is it possible to be jealous of yourself?_ Hikari wondered.

* * *

Ritsuko sighed as she looked over the data they'd collected from the Third Angel's attack. There was depressingly little of it, mostly because what few scraps of the Angel which had remained after it self destructed had dissolved before NERV could take samples.

Of course, she had another potential Angel to investigate, but the Committee would get suspicious if there was any delay in the collection and analysis of data on the Third Angel. Or at least, so Gendo had claimed.

Not that she was looking forward to studying whatever new information on the anomaly they'd obtained. The need to keep it a secret from SEELE would prevent her from using the MAGI, which would just make the task incredibly onerous and time consuming.

She looked at the clock in the corner of her computer monitor, and was annoyed but unsurprised to find she'd been working for fourteen hours now. "I could really use a cup of coffee," she moaned.

A red NERV mug filled with steaming hot java was suddenly placed on her desk. Ritsuko blinked. "I could really use a billion yen," she said.

There was a laugh from behind her and Ritsuko turned to see Misato standing there. "I didn't hear you come in," the scientist commented, picking up the mug and taking a sip of the coffee.

"Well, you know how stealthy I can be," Misato bragged.

"Uh-huh," Ritsuko replied, strongly suspecting it had more to do with her weariness and deep concentration on her work. "So, to what do I owe the pleasure of your company, Misato?"

"I just wanted to offer my old friend a pick-me-up," Misato said.

Ritsuko seriously doubted that, but she played along anyway. "Thanks, then," she said. "So how's Shinji?"

Misato frowned, thinking over the question for a few seconds. "Moody," she answered. "I'm hoping that once he starts school, he'll pep up a bit."

Ritsuko didn't believe that he would, but she was too tired to explain why, so all she said was, "Well, good luck with that."

"So, Rits, tell me about the anomaly," Misato said slowly.

Ah, there it was, the thing Ritsuko had been expecting, and approached with all the subtly of an N2 mine detonation. Typical Misato.

"Not long before you came here, the MAGI started detecting these odd waveform patterns," Ritsuko explained, carefully deciding what to reveal and what to keep secret. "Caspar and Balthasar even thought they detected an AT field at one point. During that particular incident, something fired a cross-shaped blast of energy into a nearby mountain. Despite all this, however, no attack came of it, and no Angel appeared. The pattern of the Angel we fought last night was too different from the anomaly to be the same thing. The Commander's been…adamant that the Committee not find out about this."

"Why?" Misato asked.

"He's covering his own ass, mostly," Ritsuko answered. "That the anomaly is still an anomaly represents a failure of the Angel detection system. Besides, we still have no idea what it really is. Ikari doesn't want to report that to them."

Ritsuko could tell that Misato wasn't fully satisfied with that explanation but couldn't see a way to poke a hole in it, which was good enough for her.

"He's playing a dangerous game," Misato proclaimed, her eyes narrowed.

Ritsuko came perilously close to snorting a laugh. _Misato, you have _no_ idea._

"If the Committee finds out he's keeping secrets from them, then they might well replace him," Misato continued. "Hell, they might even bring him up on criminal charges."

"I wouldn't be so sure," Ritsuko said. "Commander Ikari is…uniquely qualified to run NERV. They can't just fire him."

"But if there's an enemy out there, an Angel that's just running around free doing god knows what, then pretending it doesn't exist could be disastrous," Misato pressed, undeterred.

"We're not sticking our heads in the sand here, Misato," Ritsuko protested. "We're just keeping information from the Committee. We are investigating this anomaly, after all."

"And what have you found?" Misato asked.

"Not much," Ritsuko sighed, which was the truth, but she followed it with a lie, "I could show you what we've got, but it would just be a bunch of technical jargon that doesn't really tell you anything."

"No thanks," Misato said with a sigh. "But I should've been informed of this, Ritsuko. I am the Operations Director, after all."

"You're right," Ritsuko conceded. "I'll make sure to keep you updated on the anomaly."

Another lie, but it got Misato out of her office.

* * *

One of the many things that you simply have to learn, if you plan on acting the part of the matron for your family, was how to sew. At the moment, Hikari couldn't be gladder about this little fact.

The costume she'd "borrowed" from Kodama just wouldn't do for continued use in its current state. Toji probably hadn't noticed it, being a boy and all, but the white and gold costume clashed terribly with Spirit's silver hair and red eyes.

So, since Hikari's first romp as Spirit had been so successful, she decided that she would need to rectify this problem, and had gotten out her sewing basket during one of her long nights.

She didn't do anything terrifically elaborate, not feeling that she needed to. Hikari carefully removed the gold trim, replacing it with silver material, and added further trim by the holes she'd cut for her wings, to prevent the costume from fraying there. She trashed the gold skirt and mask entirely, making news ones of similar cuts from red material.

Hikari was tempted to make the new skirt longer than the old one, but when she'd gone to cut the fabric, she had found herself grinning mischievously and making it exactly the same length.

Finally, to finish it off, she had embroidered the kanji for "Spirit" onto the chest in red thread.

"Perfect," she said to herself, holding the finished costume up.

* * *

When most children start at a new school, they're usually nervous, excited, or a bit of both. After all, a new school presents all kinds of opportunities, both good and bad. Opportunities to make new friends and enemies, explore new social cliques, get horrifically embarrassed, and shed whatever reputation one acquired at one's former school and start fresh were all present. If the person in question is old enough, they may even hope to find that special someone among their new classmates.

However, Shinji Ikari wasn't most people, even discounting the fact that he was now the Third Child of NERV. None of the normal hopes and fears associated with starting at a new school reached him. He knew the drill by now: sit in the back of the class, hope no one thinks it's a good idea to pick on the quiet ones, and tolerate the daily grind to the best of his abilities.

"Excuse me," he said to the tall, pig-tailed girl sitting in the desk nearest to the teacher's. "Are you the class representative?"

"Yes," she answered with a look of mild suspicion that stung him slightly. "I'm Hikari Horaki, may I ask who you are?"

Shinji gave her a small, polite bow, ever eager to avoid giving offense. "I'm Shinji Ikari—"

"Oh, yes, the new student," Hikari broke in, obviously remembering suddenly. "It's nice having someone transfer into this school for a change, rather than out. There are plenty of empty seats, so go ahead and take one."

Bowing again, Shinji headed to one of the vacant desks, having to settle for one in the middle of the room despite the low number of students, and took out his SDAT. Soon losing himself in the music, he never noticed the kid with the glasses having an excited conversation with the guy in the track suit, nor did he notice the class rep going over to speak with them.

* * *

"Hey, Toji," Kensuke said in a rather loud whisper, "why do you suppose that kid transferred here when everyone else is leaving?"

The jock just shrugged in response. "How should I know?" he asked. "And for that matter, why should I care?"

Kensuke grinned slyly, pushing his glasses up with his middle finger. "I'll bet he's the pilot of the giant robot you saw kill the Angel," he said. "Think about it, why _else_ would anyone come to Tokyo-3 at a time like this?"

"Do you really believe he's the pilot, Aida?"

Kensuke spun around, starting when he realized it was the class rep who'd come up behind him and spoken. Then his mind actually processed what she'd asked him and he grinned.

"I didn't think you were interested in this sort of thing, class rep," he commented.

Hikari barely managed to hold back a wince. Kensuke wasn't a terrible person or anything, but the last thing she wanted him to think was that she was one of the rare and elusive female otaku. Getting hit on by her crush's best friend would just be painfully ironic, especially if piled on top of the fact that her alter ego had practically had Toji drooling.

Still, it looked like she was going to be sticking her nose into NERV's business in the future, and it would therefore pay to know as much as possible about NERV's business.

"I'm usually not," Hikari said quickly, "but with all of this happening right here in our city…"

She shrugged, as if to ask how she couldn't at least be a little curious about the giant robots and monsters that had gone rampaging through the streets just a few days ago.

"Ah," Kensuke said. "Well, as I was saying, I really believe the new guy could be the pilot of the robot. After all, he's probably the only person to move into the city rather than out of it recently."

"Ken, why in the world would they put someone our age into that thing instead of an actual soldier?" Toji argued. "Besides, _that_ guy? Though if it was him in there, I guess it would explain why he got smacked around like he did."

Hikari glanced at the boy seated near the back of the class, who was listening to his SDAT and looking into space with a morose expression. Toji did have a point, she had to admit. Ikari definitely did not seem like the warrior type.

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Kensuke said with a sigh. "Still…"

Toji and Hikari could practically see the wheels in the bespectacled boy's mind turning. He wanted to believe it, wanted very much to be sitting in the same room as the pilot, but he couldn't come up with a good reason as to why it should be so.

With a small sigh, Hikari bowed politely to Kensuke and made her way back to her desk, already mentally counting down the seconds until class officially began with a part of her mind. She supposed it was foolish of her to expect that anyone would be crazy enough to give a fourteen-year-old the proverbial keys to a giant robot.

The Sensei strode in a moment later.

"Stand! Bow! Sit!" Hikari barked as always.

And as always the other students complied at once, Hikari admitting as she did every school day that a part of her absolutely loved doing that. She allowed herself to briefly wonder if she could make them do that even when the Sensei wasn't present, in a kind of Pavlovian response, before she turned her attention to the teacher.

"As you know," Sensei began, "fifteen years ago, mankind faced its greatest cataclysm: the Second Impact…"

The eyes of the students collectively glazed over at once at the sound of the Sensei's customary Second Impact lecture. Hikari put more effort into paying attention than the others, since she was the class representative, but she eventually zoned out as well. Even her diligence had its limits, and they were never actually tested on recent history anyway.

Her reverie was broken when she suddenly noticed something pop up on the screen of her school laptop.

**Aida K.:** Are you the pilot of the robot?

Hikari glanced back at Kensuke, who was seated near the back of the room, but at the opposite corner as Ikari. She narrowed her eyes. Kensuke had put that message out on the class chat room, but he clearly intended for it to look like a private Instant Message.

_Aida, what the hell are you doing?_ Hikari wondered.

**Aida K.: **You are, aren't you? Y/N

Hikari waited. She knew she should do something, put her own message into the chat room to let Ikari know that it was _not_ a private conversation he was taking part in, but her curiosity stayed her hand. Ikari probably wasn't the pilot, anyway. At most, he might be the pilot's son or something.

**Ikari S.:** Yes

The room erupted in chatter as everyone turned and began to bombard Ikari with questions, who started to stammer out a few nervous replies. Hikari shut her eyes, damning herself for her lapse in performing her duties as class rep, even as she made a mental note to speak to Ikari later.

"Quiet!" Hikari barked, slapping the top of her desk. "Back to your seats, everyone! We're in class here!"

The other students sat back down in their seats with extreme reluctance, but kept their eyes on Ikari. The object of their curiosity swallowed, obviously hoping that the class rep had brought him more than a brief respite from the attentions of the horde.

* * *

"Hey, new kid!"

Shinji Ikari turned to see a tall guy in a black track suit coming up behind him. Before the Third Child could respond, Toji had grabbed him by the shirt and pulled him forward.

"You're the pilot of the robot?" Toji demanded. "Really?"

Shinji nodded reluctantly, wondering why this guy looked about ready to punch his face in.

"Your crappy piloting of that thing very nearly got my sister and me killed, you idiot!" Toji barked.

"G-Gomen," Shinji stammered. He lowered his head, unable to meet Toji's eyes. "I-I'd never seen the thing before that day, and I didn't pilot it by choice."

The pilot's sullen excuses disgusted the jock, who shoved Shinji, causing him to stumble backwards several steps and nearly fall.

"Just be glad that nothing happened, otherwise I'd have to pound you," Toji spat and then walked off.

For several moments, Shinji just stood in the middle of the schoolyard, watching the jock's retreating back, shell shocked. He couldn't decide what he disliked more: getting yelled at by the bigger boy, or the overwhelming wave of blind praise from earlier.

_I'm so screwed up,_ he thought.

"Excuse me."

He turned, irrationally fearing that the jock had come back, deciding that he wanted to pop the Third Child one after all. Shinji realized this wasn't the case before he even managed to face the new person, though, the fact that the voice belonged to a girl registering in his mind.

"Oh, class rep," Shinji said, "what can I do for you?"

"Don't let Suzuhara get to you," she advised. "He really cares about his sister, and what happened the night of the Angel attack really shook him. He's just…dealing with it rather poorly. I'll have to say something to him later."

"Um, okay, class rep," Shinji replied, not really taking her words to heart.

He was going to be dodging the tall Osaka boy in the track suit from now on, regardless of what anybody said about him.

"You can call me Hikari, Ikari," the class rep said.

Shinji nodded. "Then I guess you can call me Shinji," he replied.

A rather uncomfortable silence fell, which Hikari finally broke, bluntly broaching the subject she'd come to speak to him about. "So, are you really the pilot of that robot?"

Shinji sighed tiredly. "Yeah, I am."

"It's very brave of you to pilot it," Hikari said, feeling rather awkward. She wasn't much of a conversationalist either, especially when it came to boys. "But why not someone older?"

"Only kids can pilot EVA," Shinji answered. "I don't know why."

"And they really made you do it without giving you any training first?" Hikari asked. "Then how did you defeat the Angel?"

Hikari nearly added that it looked like he knew what he was doing toward the end of the battle, but she was able to stop herself in time.

"I…don't know," Shinji confessed slowly. "I don't think it was me. I think…I think the EVA did it."

Hikari frowned. "The EVA? But it's just a robot, isn't it? How could it defeat the Angel by itself?"

"It's more than a robot," Shinji said, a haunted look coming over his face as he remembered Unit One's green eye, which had seemed to stare deep into his very soul. "…I don't want to talk about it anymore. Gomen."

"It's all right," Hikari said. "I should probably get going anyway. Enjoy your lunch, Shinji."

There were already a few people curiously watching them converse, Hikari realized to her annoyance. She'd be dealing with rumors for a few days, at least, but she had managed to learn a few things. The first was that there was more to EVA than met the eye. The second was that NERV and Shinji were going to need all the help they could get.

* * *

Several days passed in the dull, routine way they usually did, and at times Hikari almost forgot about her alter ego. She befriended Shinji, albeit largely out of pity and a desire to pump him for information.

He was such a strange young man. Most guys would've been excited at the idea of being given a giant mecha, but Shinji obviously hated it. In fact, Hikari suspected that if there was anyone else who could do it, he would be gone from NERV and Tokyo-3 in a heartbeat.

Then, about three weeks after the first Angel attack, things began to happen.

The first thing was mundane enough, compared to what came later, but it was still startling enough to catch Hikari's attention that morning before class began. The most mysterious student of class 2-A finally returned.

"Ayanami?" Hikari said. "Wh-What happened to you?"

Hikari immediately winced at the rudeness of what she'd blurted out, not that the pale girl seemed to care. And indeed, Rei was in rather terrible shape. The blue haired girl seemed to have bandages everywhere, and even one of her eyes was covered up.

"I suffered work-related injuries," Rei answered.

Hikari blinked, but then shrugged it off, knowing from experience how futile it would be to try and get Ayanami to talk. "I see," she said. "Well, I'm afraid you've missed a lot of work while you've been out. You'll have to struggle to catch up."

Rei just nodded. She looked like she was about to head to her seat for her daily few hours of gazing out the window, but she stopped herself with a barely noticeable double take. Ayanami suddenly stared at Hikari, the enigmatic girl's red eyes—so much like Spirit's, Hikari noted—piercing her.

"Ayanami?" Hikari spoke up, far more softly than she'd intended to.

The moment broken, Rei blinked and silently went to her seat. Hikari let out a small sigh, relieved to have escaped Rei's strange scrutiny. She'd always found the girl to be strange, but that had just been beyond the pale.

Shaking off the feeling, Hikari went and sat down at her desk, waiting for Sensei. It had probably just been her imagination, she decided. She'd been feeling strangely ill at ease since she'd gotten up that morning. Maybe that time of the month was just approaching and it was making her skittish or something.

Sensei walked in.

"Stand! Bow! Sit!"

* * *

By lunch period, Hikari's vague feeling of unease had crystallized into something else, making her realize that it wasn't her monthly visitor that had caused it, but something even more sinister.

She could sense the approach of the next Angel, even darker and more powerful than the one before it. Unfortunately, she could do nothing. If the class rep decided to play hooky, people would take notice, especially if she wasn't there to help get the class to the shelters when the time to evacuate came.

So she paced around the schoolyard, filled with jittery, nervous energy as she waited for the orders to evacuate to come, everyone else continuing on with their day as if everything was perfectly normal.

"Are you all right, Hikari-san?" Shinji asked, startling her.

"Huh? Oh, yes, Shinji, I'm fine, thank you," Hikari replied automatically.

She would have to be more careful, she realized. Shinji wasn't the most observant person in the world, and even he'd realized she was antsy about something. People would get suspicious if they noticed that the class rep got visibly nervous prior to every Angel attack.

"All right," Shinji said, and went to sit over at vacant table. "Sorry."

Friends or not, Hikari was too embarrassed by the gossip just their brief conversations spawned to eat with him. She felt guilty about it, but she couldn't bring herself to set the rumor mill into overdrive. Fortunately Shinji didn't seem to mind. For someone so obviously afraid of giving offense, Shinji seemed remarkably difficult to offend.

Just as Hikari went to sit down, planning to force herself to eat something, the sirens went off. She gave a soft sigh of relief. _Finally,_ she thought.

The next Angel had at last made its presence known to NERV.

* * *

Author's notes: Well, there you have it, in case you were wondering, the reason Hikari acted so differently when she was being a super heroine. And if you don't think anonymity can make people act differently than they normally would, just take a good look around the internet where everyone can be a handle and an avatar.

The updates are going to slow down a bit now, I'm afraid. I already had most of what I've posted so far before I even put the prologue up. I just waited because I wanted an okay from orionpax to use the title I did before I put this story up, plus FFN made me wait two days after I registered for some reason. But fear not, the updates shouldn't slow down that much, and I will finish this thing.

Until next time, thanks again to all my reviewers.


	5. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: Neon Genesis Evangelion is the creation of Anno and Gainax. I don't own it, make no claims to it, and am making no profit from the fan fiction. No infringement of copyright is intended. In other words, please don't sue.

* * *

Chapter Four

"Come on, people, move it!" Hikari shouted to the members of class 2-A. "We're in danger every second we're out here and not inside the shelter!"

Unfortunately for her, class 2-A was far from terrified by the sounds of the sirens and were casually filing toward the armored doors of the shelter. Indeed, most of them looked excited and pleased at the prospect of spending the second half of the school day down in the shelter, instead of in class. They were in no panicked rush to get down there.

"Geeze, is the class rep PMSing or something?" one of her classmates muttered to another.

"I heard that, Ichigo!" Hikari barked.

The student in question flushed. "Gomen!"

Hikari just rolled her eyes and kept urging her classmates to move faster. After what felt like an eternity but was really closer to about a half an hour, everyone was finally in the armored bunker, and Hikari was able to get down to her duty of counting heads.

"Everyone is here save for Ikari and Ayanami, Sensei," she reported to the teacher with a polite bow.

"Very good, Horaki-san," the Sensei replied.

Hikari's wasn't surprised at the elderly man's calm response to Ayanami's absence. Shinji had told her that Rei was an EVA pilot as well, which would certainly explain the enigmatic girl's injuries and frequent absences.

Shinji was surprisingly willing to tell her about EVA and NERV when she asked. Either NERV hadn't ordered him to keep his mouth shut on certain things or he simply didn't care about keeping their secrets.

Knowing how apathetic Shinji was at times, it could well be the latter. However, Hikari supposed it could be the former as well. Shinji claimed he didn't know what the Angels or even the EVA's really were, and she found it hard to believe that someone in his position would be kept in the dark about such things.

Regardless, he'd shared a lot of information with her. Now that she was finished with her duties, she could finally try and put it to use.

"Hello, Hikari-san!"

Hikari stopped short, snapping out of her thoughts and coming face-to-face with one of her classmates. "Hello, Yuki," she replied with a brittle smile.

Hikari Horaki did not like Yuki. The girl was either too lazy or too dim to get good marks in school, and she seemed to be under the impression that the class representative had the power to change her grades. Hikari had no idea where Yuki had gotten this notion from, but it meant she had to deal with the girl often trying to kiss up to her.

"That was some good work you did getting everyone down here, Hikari-san," Yuki said with an obvious lack of sincerity. "Honestly, I don't think these morons realize what a serious situation an Angel attack is."

"Thank you, but I'm really just trying to do my duties," Hikari said, hoping that would end it.

"But you're so dedicated, far more so than most of the class reps I've known!" Yuki said. "Why, you're so trustworthy that I'll bet Sensei would even let you double check his grades for him."

_And there it is,_ Hikari thought disgustedly. _When will she ever get a clue?_

She was about to assure Yuki that Sensei had never once asked her to look over his records of everyone's grades for errors, when another person suddenly spoke up.

"Hey, class rep."

She turned to see Toji standing nearby, with Kensuke right beside him.

"What do you want, Suzuhara?" she demanded automatically.

"We both have to go to the bathroom," Toji replied.

Hikari narrowed her eyes in suspicion. "You were supposed to go before we got here," she said.

"It was a little difficult with you shouting at us to move faster," Toji pointed out.

Hikari sighed. "Fine," she said with a dismissive wave of her hand. "Go, just be quick about it."

"So, _does_ Sensei ever ask you to double check our grades for him?" Yuki pressed before Hikari could use the disruption to escape.

The class rep sighed, unable to believe her bad luck.

* * *

"Target in the center, pull the switch," Shinji chanted his new mantra as Unit One rocketed toward the surface. "Target in the center, pull the switch…"

The high speed ride finally ended with an unpleasant jerk, good old inertia reminding him that piloting EVA didn't exempt him from the laws of physics. Shinji took a deep breath, as 'he' clutched onto the pallet rifle tightly.

One side of the faux building opened up, allowing Unit One to exit. The Angel, a dark purple, vaguely insectoid thing was towering over the city of Tokyo-3, several kilometers away from EVA.

Given the scale of the combatants, several kilometers really wasn't a large distance at all.

"Target in the center, pull the switch," Shinji mumbled to himself as he aligned the reticule over the Angel on his HUD. "Target in the center, pull the switch."

The display indicated a solid target lock, and Shinji squeezed the trigger of the pallet rifle, sending shells that were normally used by heavy tanks flying toward the Angel. He didn't stop firing until the distinctive click of the gun running out of ammunition filled the air. By this point, the Angel had disappeared into a thick, dark cloud.

"You idiot!" Misato shouted over the radio. "You let the Angel hide in your smoke!"

_But I just did what you trained me to do!_ Shinji thought but didn't have the nerve to say. _Oh god, please let it be dead._

A flash of pink light burst out of the cloud of gun smoke, and Shinji instinctively tried to dodge. Unfortunately, he was too unpracticed with EVA, his sync ratio still too low. Unit One went tumbling backwards, falling onto the street.

Yet he didn't exactly wish he'd hadn't tried an evasive maneuver, noting how the Angel's whip had cleanly sliced the building EVA had emerged from in two.

_Okay, now what? I did the thing with the pallet rifle, and it's still alive,_ he thought, feeling his heart rate starting to accelerate rapidly.

The Angel lashed out again and Shinji, already firmly in the grip of panic, was barely able to force Unit One to scramble out of the way in time. He wasn't fast enough to save the umbilical cable, however, and the timer appeared inside the entry plug and began to tick downwards.

Before he could do anything else, before he could even realize just how disastrously unlike the training simulations he'd undergone this battle was, the Angel attacked a third time, wrapping one of its two pink whips around Unit One's leg. Shinji's own leg felt as though it had white hot barbed wired encircling it, and he screamed.

His screams only increased in volume when the Angel sent Unit One flying through the air with a flick of its glowing appendage.

* * *

_Please tell me those two idiots didn't do what I think they did,_ Hikari silently pleaded to any deity that would listen as she rushed toward the exit to the shelter.

It had taken her several minutes to disengage from her conversation with Yuki, and Toji and Kensuke hadn't returned from the bathroom by then. It would have been a suspiciously long bathroom break for two girls, let alone two boys.

She hadn't encountered them as she rushed to the girl's bathroom to change, either. Now, having transformed and again donning the mantle of Spirit, Hikari just hoped they had gone back to wait with everyone else while she was changing.

Finding all the doors to the surface standing open except for the last one—exactly the way they had been when Toji had left the shelter last time—soundly dashed those hopes.

Quickly opening the last door, she flew out, ignoring the mammoth form of the Angel and the EVA flying through the sky as she scanned the hillside for the two boys.

_Wait a minute…EVA flying through the air?_

She looked up and saw that the huge war machine was indeed soaring through the sky, and judging by the way it was wildly flailing its limbs about, it was completely out of control. Hikari looked at the spot where she estimated it would land, and found herself unsurprised to see Toji and Kensuke standing there, apparently frozen in place by their fear.

Spirit sprang into action, her white wings beating furiously as she sped toward the two boys, ignoring the EVA's shadow as it fell upon her.

_This is going to be close,_ she thought grimly, squinting against the rush of the wind as she tried to gain even more speed.

The Evangelion and winged girl both closed in on Toji and Kensuke. Had anyone been watching the potentially deadly race, they wouldn't have felt safe wagering which one would reach the two young men first.

Spirit proved herself able to fly just a little bit faster than EVA could fall. She grabbed each of the two boys by the collar of their shirts and kept going without slowing down, dragging them along with her, out of the danger zone. The EVA crashed onto the side of the hill a split second later, the entire world seeming to shake from the force of the impact.

Still holding the collar of one of her classmates in each hand, Hikari came to a stop, hovering easily in midair. She breathed a sigh of relief, then lifted Toji up so he was level with her.

"Well, hello again, handsome," she said with a smirk. "Fancy meeting you here."

He chuckled weakly, obviously still shaken by how close he'd come to getting crushed by EVA. "Hello, Spirit," he greeted. "Looks like you saved me again. Arigato. Uh, I see you've changed your costume."

She grinned. "Why, it's so nice of you to notice. Do you like it?" she asked coyly.

Toji just opened and closed his mouth dumbly, looking like he was in very serious danger of getting a massive nosebleed.

* * *

"Who the hell is that?" Misato demanded, looking at the image of three youths on the main screen in the NERV command center.

Two of the kids, the ones Unit One had nearly flattened into pancakes, looked like perfectly normal teenagers. The girl, though, looked like anything but normal with her great, feathery wings.

One of the smaller screens suddenly displayed the school ID's of the two boys. "Shinji-kun's classmates?" Misato frowned as she read them. "But what are they doing out there?"

"Never mind them," Vice Commander Fuyutski snapped. "Who or what is that girl?"

"That mask she's wearing is covering up too much for the MAGI to utilize facial recognition software," Aoba said. "We can't identity her."

"Sir!" Makoto said. "We're getting a red/blue pattern from that girl! It matches the one from the previous incidents exactly!"

"_She's_ the anomaly?" Fuyutski demanded, incredulous.

"Yes, sir," Maya said. "All three MAGI are in agreement on that point."

_Damn, she would have to finally show her face when Ikari's not here,_ Fuyutski thought.

"The Angel's approaching Unit One, sir," Makoto said, abruptly reminding everyone of their enemy.

"Shinji-kun!" Misato called. "You've got to get moving, Shinji-kun! The Angel's approaching!"

The Third Child was still recovering from his unscheduled flight over Tokyo-3, it seemed. Evangelion Unit One didn't move as the Angel drew near, and Shinji didn't report in. Misato felt bile threatening to rise up in her throat, knowing there was nothing she could do now to prevent her ward from meeting his ancestors far too soon.

The Angel lashed out with its energy whips, but Unit One finally sprang back into motion, reaching up and grabbing the deadly weapons before the Angel could slice through the EVA. Shinji screamed in pain, but apparently he was able to think through it enough to act. Unit One pulled the Angel toward itself, then flung the beast away. It went flying across the city like some kind of out of control parade balloon.

"The EVA's hands have sustained fifth degree burns!" Maya reported. "Part of the gauntlets have been completely disintegrated!"

"Damn," Misato swore. "Shinji-kun, withdraw! Head for recovery route—"

"Belay that!" Fuyutski barked. "Pilot Ikari, there is a building with a fresh umbilical three kilometers north of your position. Get Unit One back on external power and await further instructions."

"Uh, okay," Shinji said, getting Unit One back on its feet.

* * *

Spirit sighed slightly as she watched the EVA get up and start walking, moving conspicuously_ away_ from the Angel. She hadn't really expected that much from Shinji, but still…

"Well boys, not that it hasn't been a pleasure speaking with you, but it looks like I've got some work to do," she said to Toji and Kensuke.

She flew back down near to the entrance to the shelter and put her two impromptu passengers down on their feet. "Head back into the shelter you two. The professionals will take care of this one," she said, then turned to look Toji in the eyes with a grin. "Until next time."

Spirit blew him a kiss, invoking a furious blush from the Osaka boy. Giggling, she flew off, never noticing that Kensuke had surreptitiously kept his camera pointed at her almost the entire time.

"My god!" the shorter boy exclaimed as Spirit flew off. "She's real! She's really real!"

"I told you," Toji said smugly.

"And she's into you!" Kensuke said, clearly amazed and still overwhelmed. "Why didn't you tell me she was into you?!"

"I was afraid it would've made the story even less believable," Toji replied with a smirk.

* * *

With the two boys safe on the ground, Spirit turned her mind to the Angel, mentally running through everything Shinji had told her about them and the mechanics of AT fields. She visualized an impenetrable wall around her, and the air shimmered briefly as hers came to life.

It had the desired effect. The Angel immediately shifted course, ignoring the EVA and heading for the new threat. Spirit swallowed as it drew nearer, suddenly realizing just how huge the Angel really was. The giant purple cockroach might have looked almost comical under other circumstances, but with it right there, coming toward her, it was downright terrifying.

For a moment, she considered simply flying away and hoping that Shinji and EVA could handle the thing.

Then the moment passed and she steeled her courage, staring defiantly at the Angel as it approached. She could actually feel her AT field coming into contact with the Angel's as it drew near, the two meshing together and neutralizing one another. She couldn't see any of it, but she didn't have a doubt in her mind that it had happened.

The Angel lashed out with its glowing appendages, but Spirit was able to dodge without difficulty. She grinned, suddenly realizing this might not be as bad she had feared. The Angel was like someone trying to kill a fruit fly with a bullwhip. Sure, if it was able to hit her, she was done for, but it was never actually going to hit her. She was far too small and quick compared to the lumbering behemoth.

Still, that didn't mean she wanted to get any closer to the thing, but then how could she attack it?

The Angel struck again, and again Spirit dodged, flying up and to the left. The sudden change in position left her facing the mountain where she'd "practiced" using her wings several weeks ago, the crater and rather scorched trees still visible. She wondered if she could do that again, and tried to recall the feeling of power that had seized her before she'd accidentally blown a chunk out of the mountain.

A sphere of white light immediately formed in her palm. Spirit grinned and aimed carefully for the red sphere in the Angel's underbelly.

A white blast of energy shot out from her hand, sprouting two "arms" just before it connected with the Angel, making it look like a cross. Spirit's aim proved true, and it slammed right into the red core like a battering ram, sending the Angel flying backwards. The dark purple beast crashed into one of the mountains ringing the city, though not the same one Spirit had left her mark on, and collapsed.

"All right!" she cheered, pumping her fist triumphantly. "Spirit, you rule!"

The Angel stirred, immediately bringing an end to Spirit's little celebration. The monster slowly drew itself back up into its upright position, swaying slightly as though it were dazed before finally seeming to regain its composure. Its core was visibly cracked, with sparks shooting out of it furiously, but it was still alive.

_You've _got_ to be kidding me! I almost blew up a mountain with one of those blasts!_ Spirit thought incredulously.

The whips began to whirl and writhe in front of the Angel so quickly and so completely without pattern that even she couldn't hope to evade them if it got close. Judging by the way it was advancing on her, that was probably its plan.

"Eeep!" Spirit squeaked, beating her wings as she flew away from the Angel.

She fired another cross shaped blast of energy at it, but this time the Angel was ready for it and dodged, only getting grazed by the attack. If it even noticed that a bit of its side was blackened and scorched, it gave no notice.

_Man, that thing can really move when it's pissed,_ Spirit thought.

_BOOM!_

She turned to see Unit One standing several kilometers away, holding an EVA scale missile launcher in both hands. An enormous missile, hopefully armed with a conventional rather than N2 warhead, was flying toward the Angel.

_There's no way it could ever make it past those whips,_ Spirit thought. _But…_

Spirit stopped retreating from the Angel, hovering in midair. Fortunately, angry though it might have been, the Angel was still a good deal slower than she was and she had put considerable distance between herself and it.

The missile Unit One had fired drew close to the Angel, and it wrapped its two whips around the thing, neatly bringing its advance to a halt. Flames continued to erupt out of the back of the missile, but it just didn't have the thrust to break free of the Angel's grip. The Angel squeezed, its energy whips easily cutting through the missile's casing.

_**BOOM!!**_

The weapon erupted into a spectacular but useless orange and red fireball in the Angel's grasp, not damaging the energy whips in the slightest. With that annoyance taken care of, the Angel turned its attention but to the smaller but greater threat.

Only to find Spirit less than a kilometer away from it.

"Say goodnight," Spirit said, unleashing another blast of energy, right at the Angel's core.

The already damaged red sphere shattered under the force of the attack, and the blast of energy went right _through_ the Angel, even as it flung it back. The monster landed just outside the city and collapsed again, this time for good.

* * *

"The target has gone completely silent!" Aoba reported from his place in the command center.

Everyone in the command center breathed a collective sigh of relief, even Vice Commander Fuyutski. They weren't exactly about to start celebrating, considering how little _they_ had actually done against their foe, but they all happy to see the destruction of their species at the hands of the Angels averted once again.

"Well done, Shinji," Fuyutski said. "Now, I am designating the anomaly your next target. Apprehend her if possible, but do not allow her to escape."

The command center abruptly went silent, save for the omnipresent hum of the MAGI supercomputers.

"What?" Misato demanded.

"Wh-what?" Shinji stammered over the radio. "You mean the girl?"

"Yes, I mean the girl," Fuyutski said sternly.

There was a long pause from the Third Child. "But she helped me kill the Angel," he protested.

"The enemy of our enemies are not necessary our friend, Pilot Ikari," Fuyutski said. "That girl _is_ an Angel, and an extreme threat. Apprehend her now. That is a direct order!"

"Commander," Makoto spoke up softly, "the anomaly's waveform pattern doesn't conform to the baseline set by the Third and Fourth Angels. We can't say for certain that she's an Angel, especially given her behavior."

The glare he received from the older man immediately made the bespectacled senior technician shut up.

"B-But…" Shinji stammered helplessly, obviously less than keen to turn on the girl that had helped him against the Angel.

"She's on the move," Aoba said. "Target is descending rapidly. All ground based camera have lost track her."

"Pilot Ikari! Obey my order!" Fuyutski barked.

Unit One didn't move.

"Target has reached ground level," Aoba said. "Sir, all aerial and satellite cameras have lost sight of her in the trees."

"We've lost all trace of the red/blue pattern, sir," Makoto added. "She's gone."

Fuyutski resisted the urge to pound the arm of the commander's chair with his fist. _Ikari will have my ass for this,_ he thought.

"Recall EVA One," he ordered. "Captain Katsuragi, please see to the rest of this. I'm going to speak with Pilot Ikari personally. And someone contact the head of Section Two and tell him to expect me shortly."

"Yes, sir," Misato said obediently, even as she glared at the Vice Commander with naked suspicion.

* * *

_I always wanted to see inside NERV headquarters, but this wasn't what I had in mind, _Kensuke thought for what must've been the thousandth time in the past hour. _This would be _so _cool if I wasn't a prisoner!_

He was currently sitting inside a small room, being interrogated by a pair of Section Two agents. They had taken him and Toji into custody mere minutes after the alert was over and everyone got to leave the shelters.

The thing he might've found funny, had someone else been in his place, was that it was all being carried out exactly the way they showed it in the movies. He was illuminated by an overhead light, and everything outside the circle of light it cast was shrouded in darkness. He vaguely recalled learning somewhere that this was done to cause the subject of interrogation to suffer from sensory deprivation or something like that.

The Section Two agents were even doing the Good Cop, Bad Cop routine. Not that there was very much need for the Bad Cop; Kensuke wasn't about to let NERV do unspeakable things to him just to keep the piddling amount of knowledge he had about Spirit a secret. Besides, they'd already confiscated the tape from his camera, which undoubtedly would tell them far more than he ever could.

Really, the only secret young Aida had kept from them was that he'd made a copy of the tape and given it to a friend of his to hold for him, as insurance against this very situation.

And they hadn't even asked him if he'd done that.

"You're certain that you've told us everything?" Good Cop asked. "Please understand, Aida-san, if we discover that you lied or withheld information, there will be negative repercussions. None of us want that."

"Yes, I'm sure I've told you everything I know about the girl," Kensuke answered tiredly. "Can I get out of here now? Or at least, uh, get my phone call?"

Bad Cop snorted a laugh. "Kid, let me make something to you perfectly clear," he said, taking a quick drag off his cigarette and then pointedly flicking off some of the ash into Kensuke's lap. "You're not under arrest. NERV has taken you into custody under special order C-241, as authorized by the UN under the Emergency Wartime Provisions Act. What all that technical junk means is that you don't get no phone call, you don't get no trial, and you don't get to go home until _we say so_. Got it?"

Kensuke sighed. "Yeah, I got it."

"I'm glad you're so cooperative, Aida-san," Good Cop said. "Makes this easier for everyone. Now, why don't we go over what you know about this Spirit person again? Let's start from what your friend told you about seeing her during the First Battle of Tokyo-3."

* * *

"So, you believe he's telling the truth?" Fuyutski asked, looking into the room where Kensuke Aida sat through a one-way mirror.

Captain Chiron, the Chief of Section Two, smirked slightly. "I'm completely sure," he said. "He wasn't exactly the hardest nut to crack we've ever encountered. His friend was tougher, but not by that much."

"I see," Fuyutski said. "So, do their stories match?"

"Almost exactly," Chiron nodded. "The only discrepancy of any significance has to do with why Suzuhara was outside when the Third Angel attacked. Aida said his sister left the shelter and Suzuhara went after her. Suzuhara said he left because he wanted to have a look at the battle."

"Not exactly hard to figure out which of them is telling the truth on that issue," Fuyutski commented.

Chiron nodded. "You want me to have Suzuhara's sister brought in for questioning, too?"

Fuyutski considered it briefly, then quickly discarded the idea. Gendo would have done it, but he wasn't Gendo. Besides, he didn't see much of a point in professionally interrogating an eleven-year-old who probably couldn't tell them anything they didn't already know.

"No," he said, "the information we've gathered from the two boys should be sufficient."

"In that case, can I let them go?" Chiron asked. "I think we've gotten all we will from them. My men really just have the kids going in circles right now. And their fathers both work here. They'll start raising hell if their sons aren't released soon."

Fuyutski nodded. "I'll expect a report on your findings by the end of the day."

"You'll have it, sir," Chiron promised.

* * *

Hikari Horaki hummed as she walked to school the next day, feeling understandably pleased with herself over how everything had gone the other day. After all, how many teenagers destroy a massive threat to humanity and flirt with their crush in the same day?

"You're awfully happy," Nozomi noted suspiciously. "Something good happen yesterday?"

"What? I need a reason to be glad to be alive?" Hikari asked.

Nozomi rolled her eyes, then grinned wickedly. "You know, I didn't see you in the shelter yesterday," she commented. "I'll bet the reason you're so happy today is because you were in dark corner with a boy!"

Hikari sighed, but she was still feeling too buoyant to get truly annoyed. "Nozomi-chan, it's rude to make accusations like that," she said.

Nozomi just rolled her eyes, amazed that someone could be so obviously cheerful and yet not the least bit playful at the same time. "Fine, fine," she grumbled. "Whatever."

They reached school and parted ways as always, heading for their respective classrooms. Hikari sat down to wait for Sensei but soon got up when she saw Kensuke walk in. The otaku seemed cheerful enough, but there were dark bags under his eyes, as though he hadn't gotten enough sleep the previous night.

"Good morning, Aida," she greeted him. "Please forgive me for saying so, but you don't look so great."

He smiled ruefully. "I was at NERV until late last night, getting interrogated by guys in black suits," he said, as though telling her he was planning on going for a walk later.

She blinked. "What? Why?"

He grinned and opened his mouth, then snapped it closed, seeming to remember just who he was talking to. "Uh, promise you won't be mad, class rep?" he asked, rubbing the back of his neck nervously.

Hikari narrowed her eyes. "Aida…"

"Okay, okay," Kensuke said, putting his hands up in a placating gesture. "Well, I decided I just had to see EVA fight just once…"

Hikari listened to Kensuke for several minutes, "finding out" about Spirit and how she had saved the two boys and killed the Angel. Hikari did her best to act appropriately shocked as he told her about her alter ego, though she wasn't sure how good a job she did at it. She never had considered herself a great actress, but then again, Kensuke was so into telling his story that he probably wouldn't have noticed if she'd failed to bat an eye at it.

When he got to the part about NERV agents abducting him and Toji, however, Hikari didn't have to fake her surprise any longer.

"They spent six hours interrogating you and Suzuhara about this Spirit girl?" Hikari asked. "But why?"

Kensuke shrugged. "No idea. I wasn't the one asking the questions there. Bad Cop was very clear on that point."

"Bad Cop?" she asked.

"Uh, never mind," Kensuke said sheepishly, waving a hand dismissively. "Anyway, when they finally let me and Toji go, it was already night. Had to stay up real late just to get my homework done. So, what do you think about that, class rep?"

"I think that if I ever hear about you sneaking out of the shelter again, I'll have you on cleanup duty for the rest of the year," Hikari said. "And you can tell Suzuhara that goes for him, too."

Kensuke nodded vigorously, relieved to have gotten off with a warning. Hikari went back to her seat, trying to stifle the feeling of slowly growing dread rising up in her stomach.

_It's no surprise that NERV would be really curious when a girl in a costume shows up and projects an AT field,_ she thought, trying to rationalize what Kensuke had told her. _After all, Shinji said that only Evangelions and Angels are supposed to be able to do that._

She almost succeeded in convincing herself there was no reason to be worried, but then Shinji failed to make it to class. Hikari told herself that didn't necessarily mean anything, but she now had very little doubt that something was wrong.

* * *

Author's notes: Another chapter down, and Spirit has gotten her first kill, albeit with some help from one of the most depressed giant mecha pilots in all of anime. I really wanted Gendo here to be the bad guy, but he wasn't in Tokyo-3 during the episode that the Fourth Angel appeared in. My hands were more or less tied as a result, and I had to make Fuyutski the surrogate Bastard King for the chapter. Gendo will be back next chapter, and will kick the evilness up several notches, to no one's surprise, I'm sure.

Kaworu-kun, thanks for the advice about the Japanese. I'll try and keep it in mind.

Orionpax, great minds think alike, I guess. :P I'm glad I've captured your interest.

Kenzie, I'm glad you're enjoying the story so far. Shinji won't be chumming it up with Toji and Kensuke any time soon, though. As you can see, Hikari has inadvertently prevented a lot of the things that led to them being pals in the first place. I would like to make them friends, but I'm not sure if I can do it without it feeling like I've forced it.

As always, thanks to everyone who reviewed this fic.


	6. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: Neon Genesis Evangelion is the creation of Anno and Gainax. I don't own it, make no claims to it, and am making no profit from the fan fiction. No infringement of copyright is intended. In other words, please don't sue.

* * *

Chapter Five

The armored door of the solitary confinement cell squeaked as Misato pulled it open, flooding the usually pitch dark room behind it with light from the hallway. Shinji groaned as it hit his eyes.

"Who is it?" he asked.

"It's me," Misato replied. "Long time no see, huh?"

"It sure felt like it," Shinji said. "I couldn't really keep track of time in here, though. How long have I been here?"

"Almost two days," Misato answered. "I only now got permission to let you out of here. Come on, Shinji-kun, let's go home."

He nodded and stumbled out of the cell. Misato took his hand and led him through the halls like a small child while his eyes adjusted to the light again. It made Shinji feel very silly, but he couldn't deny that part of him also enjoyed the contact, especially after being totally alone for so long.

"Misato…I'm sorry I disobeyed orders," Shinji said, hanging his head as he recalled what the Vice Commander had said to him before throwing him into that cell for insubordination.

She looked at him sharply. "Shinji-kun," she began, then checked herself.

She knew better than to think one could have a private conversation inside NERV headquarters; Section Two seemed to have surveillance devices everywhere. She was even fairly sure that there were hidden microphones in the ladies lavatories.

"We'll talk about it later," she said.

"Uh, okay," Shinji replied, clearly unsure why she'd abruptly stopped herself but unwilling to press.

For once Misato was glad the Third Child was so perpetually accommodating of everyone.

Shinji's vision finally returned and he gently took his hand back from Misato after only a brief hesitation. The two walked silently toward the parking deck where Misato's still rather banged up Alpine Renault waited. Even when they were inside and heading for the car elevator that would take them outside of the Geofront and to the city above, neither of them said a word.

_I hope that Misato's not too angry with me for disobeying the Vice Commander's orders,_ he thought sadly.

Finally, when they made it back to the surface and the light of the sun shone down upon them, Misato spoke. "Shinji-kun," she said, "there's no reason for you to be sorry. I have no idea what Fuyutski was thinking when he ordered you to attack that girl. There's something rotten in NERV, and it's not your reluctance to turn on someone that might have saved your life."

Shinji smiled slightly in relief as he realized that Misato wasn't angry at him, but that smile faded as he thought over what she'd said. "What is it?" he asked. "What's wrong in NERV?"

"I don't know, but I intend to find out," Misato said determinedly.

Back at NERV headquarters, inside one of the underground laboratories, Ritsuko Akagi shivered slightly.

* * *

As the backer of the NERV, the organization which built and controlled the Evangelions, the Human Instrumentality Committee was one of the most powerful branches of the modern UN. Everyone who cared to look at the publically available facts knew that.

What _very_ few people knew was that the Committee derived arguably even greater power from the fact that it was the public face and inner circle of the secret cabal SEELE.

It was in both capacities that they were meeting with Commander Gendo Ikari at the moment. As always, the members of the Committee were bathed in different colors, save for the chairman, Keel Lorenz. He, like Gendo, was illuminated by stark white light.

"I take it you've had time to review the situation for yourself, Ikari?" Keel began without preamble.

Gendo suppressed the scowl that threatened to appear on his face. He had arrived back in Tokyo-3 from his meeting with the UN in Geneva roughly two hours ago by VTOL. He had been met by a worried looking Fuyutski, who had a report on the anomaly in hand and a worried expression on his wrinkled face. A representative of the Committee had contacted him minutes later, demanding he participate in a holographic conference with them.

In other words, he was jetlagged and had had precious little time to absorb and digest the new information, as the Committee had no doubt intended.

But he was still Gendo Ikari. "Yes, I have had sufficient time to take things in," he said calmly.

"Then you know that NERV has been humiliated by its failure to destroy the Angels," the member bathed in red light said.

"Angel," Gendo corrected.

"Excuse me?" Red asked, narrowing his eyes.

"Angel," Gendo repeated. "There was only one present in the most recent engagement. The girl who destroyed it was not an Angel herself."

Blue frowned. "But Vice Commander Fuyutski said—"

"My subordinate was in error," Gendo said flatly. "The only Angel present during the Second Battle of Tokyo-3 was the one we expected."

Gendo had understood Fuyutski's decision to label the girl an Angel; it had, after all, more or less justified his order to classify the girl a hostile target for Unit One, for all the good _that _had done to sway the EVA's inflexible pilot. Gendo had even been vaguely impressed with the way his former professor had gone so far as to pick out an angelic name for the girl—Ruachel, Spirit of God—and nearly managed to designate her as the Fifth Angel, despite incredible stubbornness from all three MAGI supercomputers.

In the end, however, he'd decided to reverse the course Fuyutski had set. Gendo had to project an image of strength and control, which meant he had to give the appearance that the girl was nothing more than an annoying aberration, not a game changer. Classifying her as an Angel they'd never seen coming definitely made her look like the latter.

"Then who or what was this Spirit girl?" Green demanded. "Something of yours?"

"No, I don't know what she is or where she came from," Gendo answered in an unusual display of candor.

"Yet you've known of the existence of an unforeseen factor since before the Angels returned," Keel said, just a trace of smugness marring his stern accusation.

Gendo came dangerously close to releasing a sigh. He knew SEELE had moles inside NERV, though he had thus far managed to keep them out of the organization's upper echelons. They had undoubtedly known _something_ was up, despite the deletion of the records of the anomaly he'd ordered.

Now that the anomaly had made its presence known much too blatantly to be covered up any longer, Keel was rubbing Gendo's previous secrecy in his face.

No matter. Keel could prove nothing without admitting to having spies within NERV, which would open a can of worms neither of them wanted opened. All Gendo had to do was stonewall.

Feint and counter feint. It was the way Gendo and SEELE interacted. Only prior to all hell breaking loose would the verbal attacks have real teeth.

"I've known nothing of the girl prior to her dramatic appearance during the last engagement," Gendo said.

"Ikari, you do realize that lying to this body is a crime punishable by death, don't you?" Keel warned.

"Of course," Gendo replied.

"In any case," Yellow spoke up before Keel and Gendo could start going in circles, "we did not fund Project-E so the Evangelions could run interference for another defender of humanity."

"That's right," Red agreed. "Perhaps we should cease providing NERV with its absurd budget and allow this girl to deal with the Angels."

An empty threat. How tiresome, Gendo mused.

"To do that would be to place the fate of humanity in the hands of an unknown element that answers to no one," Gendo pointed out. "We cannot abdicate the task of defending the Earth from the Angels to a vigilante, even if she is a powerful vigilante."

_A powerful vigilante who cavorts around in an outfit that would make Sailor Moon blush,_ Gendo mentally added, feeling a new spike of contempt for the girl who dared to meddle with the scenario.

"We cannot be seen funneling trillions into an ineffectual organization," Keel countered. "So you had better neutralize this Spirit as soon as possible and restore NERV's public image, Ikari."

And with that, the holograms of the Committee winked out, leaving Gendo alone.

* * *

"Shinji!" Hikari exclaimed upon seeing the Third Child walk into class.

Her impulsive outburst was louder than she would have liked, but fortunately the rumors had died down when no real developments occurred between her and the EVA pilot. The other students in the room waiting for class to begin barely bothered looking up.

"Ohayo, Hikari," Shinji replied with a small smile, looking slightly surprised that anyone could be so happy to see him.

"When you didn't show up after the last battle I started to get worried that something might have happened to you," Hikari said. "Aida told me about that strange girl that got involved in the fight…"

Shinji frowned. "How did he know about her?"

Hikari told him about Toji and Kensuke's misadventures outside the shelter, then she wished she hadn't as she watched Shinji grow nearly as pale as Ayanami.

"I almost…killed them?" he asked in a strangled sounding voice.

"Well, EVA almost fell on them, but they're completely fine! Not a scratch on them!" Hikari assured him quickly. "Really, it's their fault for going outside the shelter. Suzuhara should've known better, at least."

Shinji was a nice guy, despite how downcast he usually was, but he was most certainly not a warrior, Hikari had learned. He was far too gentle and valued life far too highly to ever be happy in the role that had been thrust upon him.

That was one of the reasons she'd decided to try and really be his friend, even as she continued to use him as a source of information. The boy just needed one so badly, and it didn't look like anyone else was going to be filling that role. Besides, the idea of just using him had never sat well with her.

"They're really okay?" Shinji asked.

Hikari nodded. "Yes," she said firmly, then she smirked slightly. "And if they try and blame you for that close call, I'll have them cleaning the whole school from roof to basement."

That brought a small grin to Shinji's face, as well as returning some of the color to his cheeks.

"So where have you been, anyway?" Hikari asked, steering the conversation back to where she'd originally wanted it. "You weren't hurt, were you?"

"No, I've been in a holding cell in NERV," Shinji said, scowling. "After the Angel was dead, the Vice Commander ordered me to try and capture the girl that helped me. I was locked up as punishment for not doing it."

Hikari gasped. "But why would they want to attack her? I thought she helped you!"

"She did. I don't know why they wanted me to attack her. Nobody at NERV tells me anything," he said.

Hikari blinked. That wasn't the first time he'd told her that, but it was the first time he'd said it with such obvious bitterness that she'd believed him without doubt.

"Do you have any idea why you were given such a crazy order?" she asked quietly.

He shook his head. "None."

A rather awkward silence fell. Knowing that Shinji wouldn't break it, Hikari spoke up. "Well, here's the homework you've missed. I went to your apartment, but your guardian told me she'd probably lose it and insisted I keep it," she said, handing him a small stack of printouts. "It's good to have the pride of class 2-A back."

"Pride of class 2-A?" Shinji asked, confused.

"Of course," Hikari said. "We have the honor of having the famous Evangelion pilot in our class."

Shinji just stared dumbly at her, clearly never having thought of himself in that manner.

"You'd better take your seat," Hikari said. "Sensei should be here soon."

Shinji nodded silently and did as she'd suggested. Hikari shook her head slightly as he walked off. Hopefully a few kind words would boost the poor guy's self-confidence a little.

* * *

"What a day," Ritsuko groaned to herself as she walked into her office.

"The brass being overly demanding again, Rits?"

Ritsuko nearly jumped out of her skin at the unexpected response, whirling around to find Misato standing right by the door, deliberately positioned there so she would be missed when the scientist walked in.

"Misato!" Ritsuko exclaimed, placing a hand over her chest and easily feeling her pounding heartbeat. "You scared the hell out me!"

Misato didn't laugh, which Ritsuko knew was a bad sign. Instead, the Operations Director crossed her arms and said, "Well, maybe if you hadn't been so impossible to track down for the last two days, I wouldn't have had to ambush you in your office."

_Well, you see, I've been avoiding you, because I knew I would be the one stuck dealing with the fallout from Commander Fuyutski's decision,_ Ritsuko thought.

"Well, you've successfully ambushed me," she said. "Now what do you want? I'm very busy right now."

"I want to know what the hell is going on," Misato said. "Somebody comes out of the sky and kills the Angel for us, and the Vice Commander orders Shinji to attack her. Why? So long as this Spirit is helping us save the world, I don't see why we shouldn't let her continue."

_Because, NERV isn't about saving the world, despite what that brochure you gave Shinji might've said,_ Ritsuko thought. _It's about fulfilling an extremely delicate scenario to invoke a controlled Third Impact, and Spirit's flinging sand into the gears._

"The commanders don't share everything with me," she said. "If I had to guess the reason, I'd say it's because Ikari's a control freak."

"Eh?"

"A control freak, Misato," Ritsuko said. "You know, someone who feels the need to control everyone around him? You don't get to the kind of post he has without being one. Fuyutski knows it, and he did what Ikari would've done. Spirit's probably driving Ikari crazy in a way few other things could, _and_ she's making NERV look bad."

Much like last time, Ritsuko judged that Misato sensed something was wrong with that explanation but couldn't see a way to prove it. Also like last time, Ritsuko deemed that good enough, though how much longer it would be, she didn't know.

"Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got a meeting with the control freak in chief," Ritsuko said, picking up a folder and striding out of her office.

"No rest for the wicked, I guess," Misato muttered in a sotto voice.

Ritsuko ignored her, striding out of her office and to Gendo's. The commanders of NERV were in their usual places: Gendo at his desk with his face against his intertwined hands, Fuyutski at his side. The only thing the least bit unusual about the scene was that part of one of the walls had been opened up, revealing a large screen that was normally hidden. The tape Section Two had confiscated from the Aida boy was playing on it with the sound muted.

"Come in, Doctor," Gendo said.

"My report on the latest incident with the girl," Ritsuko said, placing the folder on Gendo's desk. "I'm afraid that we haven't learned much outside of what was readily observable."

Gendo said nothing. Ritsuko swallowed.

"How did the meeting with the Committee go?" she asked, trying to keep her cool under Gendo's stare.

"The old men threatened to cease funding us," Gendo answered curtly.

"They would never entirely defund us, but we have enough difficulty with our finances as it is without them making budget cuts," Fuyutski said. "We can't allow for another humiliation like this."

"I want this Spirit identified and neutralized," Gendo said.

"I'm afraid I don't know how we could identify her, sir," Ritsuko said. She paused, then against her better judgment added, "Spirit…you know, if I didn't know better, I'd almost think it was Rei."

Gendo's glare told her he was anything but amused. Rei, the product of the Nephilim Creation Project, was Gendo's masterwork, the magnum opus of his scientific career.

Yet next to Spirit, Rei looked like a poor creation indeed. Rei had none of Spirit's incredible powers, save for the ability to generate an AT field, which was very physically taxing for her. Nor had Rei ever exhibited the perfect red/blue pattern that Spirit had, the sign of a complete synthesis of human and Angel. When Rei was deploying an AT field, her pattern was blue, and when she wasn't, it was red like any other human's. Oh, Rei was capable of fulfilling her ultimate purpose, a feat Spirit almost certainly couldn't duplicate, but Gendo no doubt saw the girl's powers as an insult to his professional pride.

Ritsuko dared to revel in having rubbed Rei's inadequacies in Gendo's face for only a few brief moments before she hurried on.

"As for neutralizing her, I'm not sure if we can," she said. "She's already shown herself to have powers rivaling those of an Angel. The only feasible weapon against her we have at the moment is Unit One, and Pilot Ikari has already refused to fight her once."

"You're not looking at the full range of possibilities, Doctor," Gendo said.

Ritsuko arched an eyebrow. "You already have a plan?"

Gendo just stared silently at her in response, and Ritsuko had to resist the urge to smack herself for her stupidity. Of course he had a plan. Gendo _always_ had a plan.

"What is your plan, sir?" she asked instead.

Gendo told her, and Ritsuko frowned. "Sir, you know the limitations of that technology," she said. "I suppose it would be more feasible to use it against this Spirit than one of the Angels, but we would still need to make her come to us somehow."

"I don't think that will be a problem," Gendo said, looking at the screen as it showed Spirit blowing the Suzuhara boy a kiss.

* * *

Hikari walked home alone from school that day rather than going with Nozomi, thanks to the fact that she had cleanup duty and had to stay longer than usual. She didn't mind much, though, as the silence allowed her to think.

The representative of class 2-A's thoughts were usually pretty focused, either on school or home, but today they were all over the place. Why did NERV seem to view her as an enemy after she'd helped them? Why was Shinji the only one who could pilot Unit One? Where had her own abilities come from? How had NERV found the only fourteen-year-old boy on the planet who could be depressed after being given a giant robot and made to live with a strikingly beautiful older woman?

She was so wrapped up in her thoughts that she barely noticed Nozomi when she walked into her home.

"Hey, nee-chan," Nozomi greeted.

Hikari looked up at Nozomi…and felt as though her stomach had dropped into her feet.

Nozomi was wearing a red mask.

_She found it! _Hikari's mind shrieked. _How the hell did she find my costume? How much does she know? Has she told anyone yet?_

The cape was the only thing that stopped her from asking Nozomi any of these questions. The youngest Horaki girl was also wearing a bright red cape, which was not a part of Spirit's costume. That gave Hikari pause, and she soon realized that Nozomi's mask wasn't hers either. The shape of it was about the same, but it was made out of a cheaper material and perhaps a bit lighter in color.

"What are you wearing?" Hikari asked, doing her best to hide how shaken she was.

"Something I picked up on my way home from school for just a few yen," Nozomi answered defensively before grinning and adding, "I'm being Spirit!"

"Wh-Who?" Hikari stammered.

Kodama walked into the kitchen just then, wearing her white lab coat. "She's this girl with wings that killed the last Angel with barely any help from the EVA," she explained. "I asked Dad about her the other night, and he said that NERV's trying to keep her existence a secret. But I guess a lot of the grunts at NERV blabbed, because the whole city's buzzing about her. I'm shocked you haven't heard of Spirit yet, Hikari-chan."

Of course, Hikari had heard about her alter ego from others, but she'd assumed that was because she could count an EVA pilot and two guys who had had their lives saved by Spirit among her classmates. The idea that people outside of class 2-A would be talking and gossiping about her, that she would have people _cosplaying_ as her...well, it had simply never entered her mind.

On the one hand, it gave her the distinct feeling that things were spinning out of control, even though she supposed she should have expected something like this to happen. On the other hand, part of her couldn't help but find being the talk of the town extremely cool.

"Nee-chan?" Nozomi asked, snapping her fingers close to Hikari's face. "You there?"

"Yes, yes," Hikari said distractedly.

Realizing she needed to regain her equilibrium before her sisters got suspicious, Hikari picked up a wooden spoon from a jar on the kitchen counter and waved it about as though it were a scepter, instantly donning the mantle of the Horaki family's quasi-matron.

"Now out of the kitchen, you two," she commanded. "I need to start dinner. You can talk about this strange winged girl elsewhere."

Nozomi scowled, but Kodama just nodded and smiled. "All right, Hikari-chan, we'll get out of your hair," she said, then took Nozomi's hand. "Come on, Spirit-chan, you can help me with my lab work."

The youngest Horaki groaned as she was pulled away. As usual, Kodama either didn't notice or chose not to.

* * *

"Commence the Unit Zero reactivation experiment," Commander Ikari ordered the assembled technicians in the testing chamber control room, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose.

Obediently, the techs began to run through their checklists, gradually awakening the EVA and connecting its mind to the First Child's. Everyone who was present was a professional, but the rising tension in the room was still palpable.

Would the ghost in the machine awaken again? If it did, would they manage to stop it before someone was killed or seriously injured? None of them had an answer to these questions, and it made them all anxious in the extreme.

In a room off to the side, Shinji stood next to Misato, watching intently. He couldn't help but marvel at Ayanami's bravery, recalling how she'd unflinchingly reentered the EVA which had nearly killed her.

_And _I'm_ the supposed pride of class 2-A,_ he thought.

He wished he could get along better with Rei, like he did with Hikari. It had been so nice of her to say that his presence was an honor for the class, even if he didn't believe it for a moment.

But things with Rei had not been going nearly so well, and after the incident earlier that day at her apartment, Shinji doubted their relationship (or lack thereof) would ever improve much. The way she'd slapped him for what he'd said about his father probably wasn't a good sign, either.

"Approaching the critical point!" Maya announced. "Two point five…two point zero…one point five…one point zero…zero point five…point three…point two…point one…absolute borderline has been cleared!"

Everyone took a deep breath, knowing that if Unit Zero was going to go berserk again, this was when it would do it. The assembled group then released said breath in a collective sigh of relief when the orange giant remained still.

"The reactivation of Unit Zero has been successful," Maya announced, a note of triumph in her voice.

"Roger," Rei replied over the radio, sounding as unperturbed as always. "Beginning interlock tests."

As the techs got to the much more mundane and much less nerve-wracking task of monitoring Rei's test, one of the phones in the control room rang. Fuyutski answered it and listened for a few seconds before hanging up without a word.

"Ikari," he said, "a huge object has just been detecting in the Pacific Ocean, approaching Tokyo-3. It could be the Fifth Angel."

"Go to battle condition one," Gendo ordered. "Prepare the city's intercept system for engagement."

"You're not going to use Rei, are you, Ikari?" Fuyutski asked, though it was more a statement than a question.

"She's not ready yet," Gendo replied curtly.

"We can have Unit One ready in 180 seconds," Ritsuko said.

"Then make it so," Gendo ordered. "NERV needs another victory against the Angels."

* * *

Spirit flew as quickly as she could from the shelter toward the rough center of the city, allowing her sixth sense for the Angels to lead her to the latest one. It had taken her longer than she would have liked to make her excuses to her sisters and escape the shelter, and she hoped that Shinji hadn't been fighting it for very long without her help.

Fortunately, the Angel proved very easy to spot. The enormous diamond hovered over the city, unmoving, its mirrored surface reflecting the blue sky above and giving it a surprisingly peaceful look. She had no idea how the Angel could possibly attack anything, lacking limbs of any kind, then she spotted the giant drill coming from the bottom point of the thing and it made a little more sense.

"Where's Shinji?" Spirit wondered aloud. "Is it possible NERV hasn't sent out Unit One yet?"

Little did she know that the EVA had already been deployed and then swiftly recalled before she'd arrived on the scene.

She flew forward, but stopped when she sensed her AT field coming into contact with the Angel's. This one's field was a _lot_ more powerful than the previous Angel's, she could tell at once, and it would take more time to neutralize. She figured that this Angel's game plan was just to have an impenetrable defense while it worked on drilling into the Geofront. Seeing no threat from the Angel, Spirit just hovered in midair as she waited for the magic to happen.

It was very nearly the last mistake she'd ever make.

The Angel fired its beam weapon at her, the lance of deadly light streaking toward her with incredible speed. Once again taking advantage of her speed and small size, Spirit dodged, easily avoiding the beam.

Unfortunately, the Angel didn't need a direct hit to harm her.

Spirit screamed in agony as the sheer heat radiated by the Angel's beam began to roast her alive. The skin on her left arm and leg blackened as it was charred, along with the left side of her costume. Several of the feathers on her left wing burst into flames, and Spirit went into a spiraling dive.

Half unconscious from the pain, she was barely able to even register the fact that she was literally crashing and burning. With a Herculean effort, she beat her wings, slowing and redirecting her fall.

Spirit fell atop the roof of one of the skyscraper sized weapons blocks, bouncing painfully off the concrete a few times as she did, the flames that were consuming one of her wings mercifully going out in the process. Unable to get up, she looked down at her severely burnt side.

_I am going to have to get a new costume, this one's ruined,_ was the first coherent thought that popped into her mind.

Then the other, more grim realities began to sink in. She was very badly hurt, possibly even badly enough that she'd lose the use of two of her limbs. She probably wouldn't be able to put up any kind of fight if NERV agents were to show up to collect her here. That was assuming, of course, that the Angel didn't finish her off first, despite the fact that she was no longer projecting an AT field. Even if she did escape with her life, her secret would be out to her family, and probably the world.

She was so busy pondering these things that it took her a good several seconds to realize that the pain was ebbing away. Spirit looked back down at her side, and her eyes widened. The blackened skin was cracking and falling away, and underneath it was pink new skin. It looked perfectly healthy and unscarred, and in seconds even stopped looking like she'd submitted it to a very hot bath, becoming the same color as the rest of her skin.

Spirit looked over her shoulder at her injured wing and saw that the feathers which had been burnt off had grown back. With the exception of her still irreparably damaged costume, there was no visible evidence of the attack she'd weathered.

_Well, that's new. I wonder if I could always do that?_ She thought.

She drew herself back up to her feet, only the ghost of the intense pain she'd suffered remaining, the echoes of it already fading fast.

Spirit strongly considered beating a hasty retreat, but opted against it. The Angel had only managed to get her because she had just remained in one place like an idiot. So long as she avoided the points of the octahedron, where the beams were emitted from, she should be fine.

Unit One couldn't dodge nearly as easily as she could, she knew.

She took off again, this time making sure to keep moving once she'd spread her AT field, taking care that she always faced one of the sides of the Angel, not one of the edges or points. When its AT field was finally neutralized, Spirit wasted no time in firing one of her energy blasts at it, the white light piercing the Angel's side. There was a satisfying crunching sound as the Angel's crystalline body broke under the force of the blast.

She smirked, then took a closer look at her handiwork.

Spirit's jaw dropped at how little damage she'd managed to do. She'd blown a crater into the Angel's side, but it looked barely large enough to fit a car into. She'd been hoping her attack would go through one end of the Angel and come out the other.

She readied another blast, deciding she'd just have to keep firing away at it until she got to the core. But before she could let it loose, the small wound she'd made in the Angel's side healed entirely, filling up in mere seconds.

Clearly the Angel's regenerative powers exceeded even her own newly discovered ones. It could heal itself faster than she could hope to hurt it, at least with her energy attack. Spirit allowed the light in her palm to fade.

She narrowed her eyes, deciding to take a more direct route. She flew right up to the Angel and slammed a fist into it.

Spirit cried out in pain, clutching her hand. She could reduce solid rocks to powder without trying, but with all her strength she couldn't so much as dent the surface of the Angel.

There was nothing she could do to really hurt it she realized, a sick feeling forming in her stomach.

"I'm sorry, Shinji," she whispered as she flew off. "It looks like this one is all yours."

* * *

_Several hours later…_

"Well, it appears as though Operation Yashima was a success," Fuyutski commented as he read the after action report. "NERV has its victory, albeit at the cost of extensive damage to Unit Zero's armor."

"It is of no consequence," Gendo said. "The prototype was due for a refit in any case, and it was well worth the price. We have proven we can deal with the Angels that Spirit is incapable of defeating."

"So, do you still plan on going through with this plan to capture the girl?" Fuyutski asked.

"Of course."

"But Ikari, consider the expense," Fuyutski protested. "Dismantling all that equipment, transporting it, and then reassembling it will cost a fortune, to say nothing of what this could do to NERV's image if something goes wrong."

"It will be well worth it to remove this annoyance and keep her from interfering further with the scenario," Gendo replied in a tone that booked no further argument. "We will begin the preparations as soon as possible."

* * *

Author's notes: First off, I hope nobody minded too much how Gendo-heavy this chapter was. There was a lot of aftermath to deal with in the wake of Spirit's first extremely public appearance, and the Bastard King was the one who had to do most of it. The fact that I couldn't use him last chapter didn't help.

For anyone who doesn't get Akagi's comments about how she might think Spirit was Rei, she says that because Rei can mean spirit in Japanese.

Now, a number of you have commented on how Hikari can't be allowed to steal all the glory from NERV and the EVA's, and let me assure you I never planned on having her kill every single Angel. (I hope none of you feared she'd go diving into molten lava and beat Asuka to Sandalphon) Some of them will just be too much for her, so Shinji's still going to get to kill a few of them.

00idiot, thanks for the info. I had already planned on having Gendo say that Hikari's not an Angel to give the appearance that he's got everything more or less under control, though.

Kaworu-kun, Hikari's been asking Shinji about EVA and the Angels, and as we all know, he's not the best at keeping these kind of secrets.

Orionpax, the problem is that Hikari's not good with boys, so she's not going to drag a couple of them along in an attempt to help her. Plus, Shinji's friendship with Toji and Kensuke was kind of an unlikely one to begin with. I considered having them be the ones assigned to take Shinji's printouts to him, meeting Misato, and deciding to be Shinji's friends as a result. However, I didn't want them to be his friends _just_ to get the opportunity to ogle his guardian. They'll still be friends, but it won't be till much later in the story.

Kenzie, almost everyone in Tokyo-3 drank the contaminated water, but the odds of being affected by it were miniscule and only Hikari beat them. Ritsuko's comment in the prologue about incredibly unlikely things never happening at NERV was actually meant to be a joke, as the incredibly unlikely seemed to happen almost routinely during the series (e.g. activation of the 'O9' system, the three EVA's successfully catching the Tenth Angel, etc.).

Konous, Shinji will manage to kill enough Angels to justify his existence. Recall that he wasn't able to really spell out why he piloted until after the Tenth Angel, so I wasn't very fussed about the possible impact not killing the Fourth would have on him. Also, I feel I should note that Hikari does like Toji, it's just that she only has the nerve to act upon that when she's wearing Spirit's mask.

Until next time, thanks again to my readers and reviewers.


	7. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: Neon Genesis Evangelion is the creation of Anno and Gainax. I don't own it, make no claims to it, and am making no profit from the fan fiction. No infringement of copyright is intended. In other words, please don't sue.

* * *

Chapter Six

Rei Ayanami was laying on the bed in her desolate and dilapidated apartment, holding a pillow and appearing to stare at nothing.

To most of the people who knew Rei, this wouldn't have seemed the least bit unusual. After all, the First Child did spend most of her time in school gazing silently out the window at passing clouds. However, Rei's current state was anything but usual.

She was confused.

Rei wasn't used to confusion. After all, she had known what her ultimate purpose in life was since she had been old enough to understand it, and her loyalty to her creator was absolute. Such knowledge and attitudes did not breed uncertainty and internal conflict.

Yet despite this, Pilot Ikari's actions had still managed to confuse her. He had done the same thing the Commander had, opening her superheated entry plug with his hands, and he had requested nothing more than a smile in return. Rei simply could not comprehend why Pilot Ikari had done such a thing for her.

Granted, he did not know how completely expendable she was, but that still failed to explain his actions. She had struck him mere hours earlier, and he had seemed…terrified of her when he was at her apartment. They were not friends, and he had not even known her for very long. She was not the keystone of any plan of Pilot Ikari's, as she was for the Commander's scenario.

Rei picked up Commander Ikari's ruined glasses from her bedside table and looked at them for a long moment. She had no memento of Pilot Ikari's rescue of her, yet it was that which plagued her thoughts.

Simply put, Rei didn't know how she was supposed to respond to what Pilot Ikari had done. Clearly, such a…dramatic act required some kind of response from her beyond a mere smile, but Rei had no idea what would be appropriate.

"Do I now 'owe him one?'" she wondered aloud, recalling a phrase she had heard her classmates use on occasion.

She paused, frowning very slightly. "And if so, one of what?"

* * *

Not long after their mother had died, Hikari had tried to institute a new tradition among the Horaki girls, namely movie night. This was back before NERV had gone into overdrive, forcing their father to work late virtually every night; at that time, he'd usually only worked late on Friday nights. With their mother newly dead, their home had seemed oppressively empty when their father was absent, despite how much noise Nozomi made.

Hikari had been quite pleased with herself for coming up with movie night, which she viewed as a simple but elegant solution to the problem, giving them something to focus upon besides how quiet it was. Unfortunately, the tradition had died in the cradle.

The problem was that their taste in movies was too different. Nozomi would loudly complain if they tried to watch one of Kodama's science fiction flicks or documentaries, while Kodama would point out every single physical impossibility in the kung-fu movies Nozomi tended to favor.

And they _both_ hated Hikari's romantic comedies. Nozomi would make loud gagging sounds at the romantic parts if they watched one. Kodama would attempt to tolerate them with good grace, but she'd always fall asleep and start snoring.

Thus, after only a few weeks, movie night became TV night, which usually involved gratuitous amounts of channel surfing and fighting over the remote until they found something they could all stand watching.

At the current moment, Nozomi had the remote, which meant only one thing.

"Damn it, Nozomi! I am _not_ watching American Gladiators!" Kodama snapped, trying to take the coveted device from her youngest sister. "Why do we even _get_ American Gladiators? We're in Japan, and it's all reruns anyway!"

"Who cares why we get it?" Nozomi replied, sitting on the remote in an attempt to keep Kodama from laying her fingers on it. "It's _awesome_!"

"It's idiotic! Now gimmie!" Kodama demanded.

With a grunt of effort, the chemistry major picked up the eleven-year-old, revealing the remote. Nozomi squealed and snatched it up a moment before Kodama could. The eldest Horaki girl responded by unceremoniously dumping Nozomi back onto the couch, and the two began to wrestle for the remote.

Seated on an easy chair that their father usually occupied when he was at home, Hikari sighed contentedly, tossing a kernel of popcorn into her mouth from the bowl she had on her lap. This certainly wasn't what she'd had in mind when she'd proposed movie night and then TV night, but it did have a certain sisterly charm to it.

_This is way more entertaining than any movie could ever be,_ she thought with a grin.

As Kodama and Nozomi fought, one or both of them hit one of the buttons to scroll through the channels.

"The economic situation—"

"Mixers are on sale NOW for only—!"

"Hey there, kids! I'm—"

"For a limited time only—"

"Rise Shining Gund—!"

"A hostage situation—"

"Live at the Tokyo-2 Dome—!"

"Wait!" Hikari barked, abruptly causing the fight on the couch to pause.

"What is it, Hikari-chan?" Kodama asked, even as she retained her death grip on the remote.

"Go back a few," Hikari ordered.

Kodama and Nozomi traded a glance, then both seemed to shrug. Nozomi let go of the remote, and Kodama obediently began to scroll back through the channels.

"There! Stop," Hikari said when Kodama flipped to a news program.

"—of Tokyo-3 Municipal Junior High School," the voice of the news anchor said, the picture showing a building near the center of the city that was surrounded by police. "He was abducted this afternoon at approximately four thirty, police say. The heavily armed kidnappers are now holed up inside this building, engaged in a tense standoff with police. Strangely, the kidnappers have not issued any demands."

"Tokyo-3 Junior High? That's your school," Kodama commented.

Hikari nodded silently, not taking her eyes off the screen for a moment.

"We at channel three news have just obtained a photograph of the victim," the anchor said.

Hikari gasped as Toji's school picture appeared on the screen.

"Our thoughts and prayers go out to the boy and his family," the anchor continued. "Channel three news will be bringing you updates on this story as it develops. In other news…"

"You know him, Hikari-chan?" Kodama asked.

Hikari nodded. "He's in my class at school."

"Why would anyone kidnap him?" Nozomi asked. "Are his parents rich or something?"

Hikari shook her head. "Not so far as I know," she said. "Um, I think I'm going to go to bed now."

Nozomi frowned. "It's only eight o'clock!"

"I, uh, don't feel too well," Hikari explained lamely, getting up and placing her bowl of popcorn on a nearby coffee table. "Good night."

She quickly headed for her room, leaving her confused sisters behind. _Good thing I've already gotten a new costume,_ she thought as she hurriedly ascended the stairs. Not that it had been a difficult task, considering that all the costume shops in Tokyo-3 were selling Spirit costumes now.

Hikari hadn't really planned on going out as Spirit for anything besides the Angels, especially after Shinji had told her that NERV viewed her as a hostile for some reason. For Toji, however, she could make an exception.

Besides, it wasn't as though she'd have trouble against human opponents, no matter how heavily armed. She could get there, rescue her crush, flirt with him a bit, and be back in nothing flat.

_I wonder what I'll come up with to say to him this time?_ She mused with a small grin as she finished donning the costume.

Hikari opened her window. "I have wings," she whispered.

Seconds later, Spirit soared out into the night.

* * *

Special Agent Takehito Yamadera was nervous.

Actually, he considered, nervous was an understatement. He was anxious as all hell, and it was only by the virtue of his training that he was able to keep himself from becoming visibly jittery.

As a member of Section Two, he'd known that he might be called upon to perform black ops for NERV. However, kidnapping some civilian kid off the street and holding him hostage in order to get a girl with the powers of an Angel to show up simply went beyond the pale.

"It's been three hours now," complained one of his subordinates, a man named Gao.

"She'll show up eventually," Yamadera assured the man automatically. "Once she hears her little boyfriend's been captured, she'll come. Just a question of when that is."

"Damn, but I wish we had bigger guns than just these pistols," Gao continued to whine. "If the cops bust in—"

"The police aren't going to burst in here," Yamadera growled. "The Commander's pulled strings with the police chief. They'll wait out there until doomsday if they have to. And it would look kind of suspicious if a group of guys who are supposed to be just a gang of crazy criminals had semiautomatic weapons, now wouldn't it?"

"Still—"

"Shut the hell up," Yamadera snapped.

Men like Gao were the problem with Section Two, Yamadera mused.

Really, the ideal candidate for Section Two needed only two things: military training and a complete lack of scruples. Unfortunately, such men were in high demand in the post-Second Impact world. While the first world had pulled itself back together since that cataclysm, the third world hellholes had only gotten worse. Every tin pot dictator and rebel leader wanted mercenaries who could shoot straight and didn't care who or what they were pointed at. As a result, NERV was often forced to scrape the bottom of the barrel, and sometimes hired people who lacked both morals _and_ adequate training.

Yamadera tapped a button on the radio headset he was wearing. "This is Birdcatcher. Report on the hostage's status."

"Still pissed off, but pretty quiet," came the voice of one of the Section Two men on a lower floor of the building, where they were keeping Suzuhara.

Yamadera nodded. "Good," he said, then turned to his team. "Unless the girl has X-ray vision and feels like busting through a window, she'll come here first. We're right by the only rooftop entrance to the building."

"You've said that six times in the past hour, boss," Gao pointed out.

"At least I'm not the one bitching and moaning!" Yamadera barked. "Now shut the hell up!"

Yamadera's headset suddenly crackled to life. "Birdcatcher, this is headquarters. We've detected the red/blue pattern. The bird is heading your way."

"Finally," Yamadera grumbled. "Places everyone."

* * *

With humans as her enemies that night, Spirit had feared that her quarry would be difficult to find. After all, her sixth sense for the Angels had always led her to foes in the past, and the fact that they had all been enormous so far hadn't exactly made them harder to locate. Fortunately, she only had to fly around the city for a few minutes before she sighted the building surrounded by police cars and illuminated by spotlights.

_Front door's obviously not an option, not unless I want to fight with the police,_ Spirit thought. _I guess that means I'm going in from the roof._

She landed lightly, and soon spied a single door to that would lead her down to the building's top floor. Spirit marched over to it, prepared to rip it off its hinges. She was surprised to find that unnecessary; it was unlocked. She opened the door…

And found herself face to face with half a dozen men in black suits, all of whom had guns pointed right at her.

She smirked. "Don't even bother trying, gentlemen. Just point me towards Suzuhara and get out of my way."

One of the men fired.

Spirit tried to raise her AT field, but to her horror it failed to materialize.

The bullet slammed into her shoulder, and she screamed at the intense and unexpected pain, falling backwards as her costume was stained red by her blood.

"You idiot!" one of the other man spat. "Our orders are to take her alive if possible! Ikari will have our asses if she dies from that!"

The words, and what they meant, didn't immediately register in Spirit's mind. She was too caught up in the incredible pain, feeling as though she had a small, burning coal lodged inside her. The wound was smaller than the one she'd sustained against the Fifth Angel, but the agony was much deeper and more intense.

Fearing that her regenerative abilities would cause her body to heal around the bullet if it was left alone, Spirit steeled herself and reached into the wound. Tears poured from her eyes, staining her mask, as she dug into her damaged tissue and gripped the deadly piece of metal.

She was amazed at how small it was; the thing felt a lot bigger.

With a cry of mingled triumph and pain, she pulled the bullet out and flung it across the rooftop, never wanting to lay eyes upon it again. The wound was already starting to close up when she did so.

Spirit sat up…just in time to see one of the men fire a stun gun at her.

"There," Yamadera said, casting a dark look at the agent who'd fired the .22 at Spirit. "That's the way we were _supposed _to do it."

One of the agents stepped forward and placed heavy handcuffs around both Spirit's wrists and ankles.

Yamadera tapped a button on his headset. "Headquarters, this is Birdcatcher. Stage three of the operation was a success."

He was surprised when the unmistakable voice of Commander Ikari responded. "Well done, Birdcatcher. Return to headquarters immediately."

"Roger, sir."

Spirit began to stir, to Yamadera's amazement. The high powered stun gun could have knocked a horse out for hours, but this costumed teenager was regaining consciousness after only a minute.

She opened her red eyes. "How?" she croaked. "My…field…"

Yamadera smirked. "We installed an AT field neutralization zone generator in this building," he explained. "It's impossible to deploy an AT field here."

"I see," Spirit said. "Fortunately for me, all my other powers still seem to be intact."

Before Yamadera could respond, she snapped the chains of the cuffs on her wrists and ankles as if they were made out of paper, then kicked Yamadera, knocking the wind out of him and sending him flying into the other Section Two men, knocking them over like bowling pins.

"Stop her!" Yamadera gasped out. "Kill her if you have to!"

Shots rang out, but it took the Section Two men a moment longer then they actually had to get to their feet and get over the shock of Spirit's sudden escape. The first few bullets went wild, missing the winged girl entirely. Before they could take more careful aim, she had made it to the edge of the roof and leapt off, soaring off into the darkness and quickly moving beyond the AT field neutralization zone.

"Damn it!" Yamadera swore. He turned on his headset again. "Commander, this is Birdcatcher. The target has escaped. Repeat, target has escaped."

"I see," came the voice of Commander Ikari, colder than ice and promising to reward failure with endless torment. "So the operation was a complete failure?"

Yamadera spied the bloodied bullet that Gao had shot Spirit with. He went over to it and gingerly picked it up. "Maybe not."

He could almost feel Commander Ikari arching a curious eyebrow. "Indeed? Well, hurry back with whatever you've managed to salvage. I've just been informed that the leader of the police squad outside the building disobeyed the orders of his chief. The authorities are storming the building as we speak."

Yamadera cursed. Their escape plan was to go to the basement of the building, which connected with the ceiling of the Geofront, and dive down with parachutes that they'd brought along. Obviously, a squad of police between them and the basement made that plan a great deal more difficult to execute.

"You should remember that if you are captured, NERV will disavow you," Ikari advised before closing the channel.

* * *

Spirit stood on the ledge of a building neighboring the one that the NERV agents had holed up inside, cloaked in shadows. It had been twenty minutes since she'd escaped their trap, and nothing had come out of the building yet, even though she'd seen police going in. She didn't dare venture back there, back where she couldn't manifest an AT field and where men with guns intended to capture her or, failing that, kill her. Besides, she told herself, they weren't interested in Toji; he was just the bait to lure her in. They wouldn't hurt him; they had no reason to.

At least, she hoped not.

Finally, a group of policemen emerged from the building, escorting a shaken looking but unharmed Toji Suzuhara. Spirit heaved a sigh of relief, and then took off, heading for home.

_I can't believe I was stupid enough to actually fall for that,_ she thought as she glided through the dark sky.

It had been an obvious trap in hindsight. The fact that the boy Spirit had saved twice already had gotten kidnapped by people who demanded no ransom should have raised red flags in her mind at once, especially knowing how NERV wanted to capture her.

But she hadn't given it a second thought, too eager to again go rushing off to her crush's rescue and flirt with him behind the safety of her mask. Even after the last Angel had shown her that she wasn't invincible, she had still recklessly plunged into the breach.

_I'm definitely going to have to be more careful in the future,_ she thought, glancing down at the large blood stain on her costume. _And I'll need _another_ new costume…oh well. Toji's safe, and I'm not being taken down to NERV for experiments. All's well that ends well, I guess. At least this ordeal's over._

Reaching her home, she carefully entered her room through her window. With a sigh, she peeled off her mask, still slightly damp with her tears of agony.

And at that exact moment, the screen separating her room from the hallway was slid open. "Nee-chan?" Nozomi said from the doorway.

The little girl's jaw dropped when she lay eyes upon Hikari. "Oh my gosh! My sister's Spirit!" she shouted at the top of her lungs, jumping up and down in her excitement. "This is so cool! SUGOI!"

Hikari suddenly felt like a ball of ice had formed in her stomach. "N-Nozomi! Be quiet!" she demanded with as much force as she could muster at the moment. "What are you even doing in here?"

"I was worried about you and came to check on you. When you said you weren't feeling well, I was afraid that you might be getting sick again," Nozomi explained hurriedly. "Can you take me flying with you? Oh, how about showing me those cross shaped blasts? Was killing the Fourth Angel hard?"

Before Hikari could make any kind of reply, Kodama appeared in the doorway next to Nozomi.

"Nozomi-chan, what in the world are you yelling…" she trailed off as she turned and saw Hikari, her eyes growing wide. "...about?"

Hikari smiled weakly. "Hello, nee-chan."

* * *

Ten minutes later found Hikari back in her normal clothes and form, sitting in the living room with her sisters and explaining everything to them. The only things she held back were how drastically her attitude changed when she was being Spirit and how she had repeatedly flirted with Toji. Nozomi's eyes grew wider and wider as Hikari told her story, looking upon her with an expression of naked awe that the middle Horaki girl was quite unused to. What really concerned her, though, was the steadily increasing look of worry on Kodama's face.

"And then I came back home, and Nozomi-chan saw me just as I took my mask off," Hikari finished.

"Yatta," Nozomi whispered reverently.

Kodama sighed. "Hikari-chan," she began, wiping a hand across her face. "This…I can't believe you'd do something as insane as this. You could have been killed."

"If I hadn't helped Shinji kill the Fourth Angel, _everyone_ could have been killed," Hikari pointed out. "You're…you're not going to tell Dad, are you?"

Kodama sighed again. "No," she decided. "Dad's been too overprotective of us since Mom died. He'd be afraid that these powers are killing you or something, and he'd take you to the doctors and tell them about it. Or even worse, he might not believe you about NERV being out to get you and take you there. We won't tell anyone about this."

She gave Nozomi a pointed look as she added the last part. The little girl pouted but didn't argue.

"But," Kodama continued, "you have to stop being Spirit."

"Wh-what?" Hikari sputtered.

"It's too dangerous," Kodama said firmly. "If you keep this up, you'll be captured and experimented on, or worse. Just leave the Angels to NERV."

Hikari narrowed her eyes, feeling resentment bubble up within her. Back when their mother had died, it had been assumed that Kodama, as the eldest sister, would be the one to take over her responsibilities. But Kodama had proved too inept a homemaker, and she had had college to think about. The burden had defaulted to Hikari as a result, and she had been the one to carry it, doing so without complaint.

Yet now, after abdicating all the motherly duties to Hikari, Kodama was trying to order her around like she was her mother. In spite of traditional Japanese deference to those older than yourself, Hikari was infuriated and could barely keep from showing it.

"I've told you about Shinji," Hikari argued. "He doesn't really know what he's doing, and he's very unsuited for the job of piloting EVA to boot. He's NERV's _only_ active pilot. I have to help him."

Hikari and Kodama locked eyes for a long moment, neither one looking away.

Finally, Kodama sighed. "I'm not going to dissuade you, am I?" she asked at last.

"No," Hikari said flatly.

She didn't add "And you can't stop me, either," but it was implied clearly enough.

"Fine," Kodama said, resigned. "Do what you want. But if I have to explain to Dad how and why you died, I'll kill you."

Knowing the strange ways Kodama's brilliant but sometimes scattered mind worked, Hikari wasn't entirely sure how much humor her older sister had intended.

* * *

"Bye, Misato!" Shinji called as he left the apartment.

"Have fun at school, Shinji-kun," Misato called back.

Hearing the front door close as her charge departed, Misato grabbed a few cans of beer from the fridge and made her way to the couch in the living room. The purple haired woman, as scantily clad as she usually was when loafing around her home, plopped down onto the couch with a contented sigh.

"This is what days off were made for, Pen-Pen," she said sagely.

The warm water penguin, who was lounging in a corner of the room and playing with a fishbone, didn't even bother to look up at her. Misato shrugged, grabbing the remote and turning on the TV, then cracking open a can of Yebisu.

She began to gulp down the nectar of the gods with relish, only half listening to the morning news program she'd turned on.

"…and the expected high is a balmy 78 degrees," said the overly perky anchor girl. "In other news, Tokyo-3 Police are still unable to discern a motive behind the kidnapping of Toji Suzuhara that occurred last night."

Misato nearly sent beer flying out her nose at hearing the familiar name, but was able to prevent herself from wasting the precious liquid in such an unpleasant fashion. She set the can down on the coffee table and gave the TV her full attention.

"As you may know," the anchor continued, "Suzuhara was kidnapped yesterday afternoon. His captors holed themselves up inside of Yoshimata Tower and then engaged in an hours long stand off with the police. Captain Yuki of the T3PD decided to storm the building when the mysterious Spirit was spotted landing on the roof. Though Spirit retreated from the scene only minutes later, the police were able to rescue Suzuhara. The kidnappers are all presumed dead. Those who did not die in a pitched gunfight with police apparently committed suicide, leaping from the building's basement into the Geofront below.

"When asked to comment on his bold actions, Captain Yuki said, 'When I saw Spirit land on the roof, I knew those monsters inside would be distracted and that I wouldn't get another opportunity as good.'"

The anchor girl lightly touched the small earpiece she was wearing. "I'm just getting breaking news on this story. Apparently, one of the kidnappers was found with a NERV ID card identifying him as Hiro Saki. NERV Commander Gendo Ikari has denied any NERV involvement in this crime via a written statement. Now in sports—"

Misato turned off the TV, her carefree feelings from moments earlier quite gone. The kidnapping had Section Two written all over it; she recognized their shoddy work, and it wasn't hard for her to figure out their motives at all. The discovery of the NERV card only erased what little doubt she might have had otherwise.

She picked up her can and downed the remaining beer in one swallow. _I never would have guessed that Commander Ikari would resort to something so illegal,_ she mused.

Absently tossing her now empty can in the general direction of the trash bin, Misato then popped another one open and began to drink. Something was very wrong inside NERV, that much was for sure.

But what exactly was it? What drove the Commander to treat Spirit like their worst enemy? And what could she hope to do about it?

* * *

Hikari had thought that, after having angelic wings burst from her back one day, she could never know surprise greater than she had already experienced. She thought wrong.

Rei Ayanami approached her at the start of the lunch period.

Rei Ayanami approaching anyone by choice, save perhaps for her fellow EVA pilot, was something Hikari had rated as slightly less probable than the Earth spontaneously starting to rotate the other way.

"Representative Horaki," Rei said in her usual soft voice, "I would speak with you in private."

"Um, all right," Hikari said. "Let's go up to the roof."

Rei nodded and silently followed her up the stairs. Once they had reached their destination, Hikari turned and gave Rei an expectant look. Surprisingly, the blue haired girl actually seemed rather uncomfortable.

"You are Ikari's only friend, are you not?" Rei asked.

Hikari blinked, wondering where Rei could possibly be going with this. "Well, yes, I suppose so," she said.

"Are you Spirit?" Rei asked in the exact same tone she'd used to ask her previous question.

Hikari felt as though she'd been punched in the gut. "How did you know?" she asked, eyes wide and terrified.

"Until now, I only suspected," Rei said, and Hikari shut her eyes, realizing how stupid she had just been. "I could sense that there was something…different about you after you returned from your sick leave."

"Are you going to tell NERV?" Hikari whispered.

"No," Rei answered. "Pilot Ikari…did something for me, and I do not wish for him to become distraught. I believe the loss of his only friend would make him so."

"Yes, I'm sure it would," Hikari agreed earnestly. "Is this why you called me up here? To ask me if I'm Spirit?"

"No," Rei said. "I wanted to warn you, if you were Spirit."

Hikari frowned. "Warn me? About what?"

"Section Two was able to obtain a sample of your blood after your confrontation with them last night," Rei explained. "They ran tests on it, but were unable to use it to discover your identity, due to how much of your genetic code has been overwritten by Angelic DNA. Commander Ikari has ordered all the high schools and junior high schools in Tokyo-3 to conduct random blood tests on all students one week from today. Ostensibly, the tests will be conducted for the purpose of finding students who use illegal narcotics, but the true reason will be to find you."

"I'll have to call in sick that day," Hikari mused.

"You will be tested when you return to school," Rei said.

"Then what do I do?" Hikari demanded, becoming frantic.

"I do not know," Rei answered.

Hikari sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Arigato."

Rei nodded and began to walk toward the stairs. She somehow looked incredibly lonely as she did, and Hikari reminded herself that Rei hadn't been obligated to warn her about the blood test.

"Ayanami, wait," Hikari said.

Rei stopped and turned around.

"Would you like to eat lunch with me? I'll invite Shinji to sit with us, too," she added, deciding that with Rei there as well, the school's rumor mill probably wouldn't go into overdrive.

Rei hesitated for a moment, then nodded. "That would be acceptable."

* * *

Author's Notes: After all the Gendo in the previous chapter, I decided to focus almost entirely on Hikari for this one. I hope you enjoyed it.

I had originally planned to more or less ignore Rei in this fic, but then I thought about it and realized that ignoring the key to the Instrumentality Project was probably a bad idea. I needed someone to warn Hikari about the blood tests, anyway, since NERV would have to be pretty stupid to allow the schools to announce them beforehand and I do like the character.

The AT field neutralization zone isn't just something I made up, by the way, though by no means was it ever prominent in the anime. To the best of my knowledge it was only ever mentioned once: when the Fourteenth Angel was tearing its way into the Geofront, Misato asked what Unit Zero's status was, and Maya responded that it was in the AT field neutralization zone, but was still missing an arm.

Orionpax, yeah, spidey went through three costumes in the first movie alone, I think. Though the first one did pretty much suck. Fortunately for Hikari, she can just buy fresh ones now. Thanks for the suggestion about Misato.

As always, thanks to my readers and reviewers.


	8. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: Neon Genesis Evangelion is the creation of Anno and Gainax. I don't own it, make no claims to it, and am making no profit from the fan fiction. No infringement of copyright is intended. In other words, please don't sue.

* * *

Chapter Seven

Hikari's heart hammered as she waited outside the nurse's office for her turn to get her blood drawn. She had hoped that the near disaster of the Jet Alone exhibition would have caused the "random" blood tests to be cancelled or at least delayed, but in all honestly she couldn't really give a reason why it should have.

It had just been such a miserable experience for her that felt she deserved _something_ in return, even though she had long ago learned the world didn't work that way. She had had to sit in the shelter, not feeling so much as a twitch from her sixth sense for the Angels, having no idea what was going on and thus being unable to help. Nozomi's excited whispers urging her to put on her costume anyway hadn't helped the situation, either.

"Horaki Hikari!" the school nurse called.

Hikari walked inside the nurse's office, doing her best not to look visibly nervous. She didn't succeed, judging from the sympathetic look the elderly nurse gave her, probably thinking she was afraid of needles.

"This will just take a minute," the nurse said, picking up a long, thin piece of rubber. "Roll up your sleeve, please."

Hikari obediently did so, and the nurse tied the rubber strip tightly around her arm, causing blue veins to become clearly visible beneath her pale, freckled skin. Hikari watched intently as the nurse pierced the soft inside of her elbow, the little glass vial attached to the needle filling up with the ruby liquid that could identify her as Spirit.

Such a little thing, Hikari mused, to expose such a huge secret.

If someone managed to catch her changing into her costume before a battle, she would have been very distraught but not terribly shocked. Hikari had always deemed that the greatest risk, the mostly likely way for her to be exposed. But that her very DNA could betray her secret identity…she had never given it so much as a thought the first time she put on her mask.

"Ow!" Hikari shouted, jerking violently and sending the needle and vial clattering to the tiled floor, along with various other medical paraphernalia from a tray that was located on a table near her.

"Gomen!" Hikari said quickly, rushing to kneel down to pick up all the things she'd knocked over.

"Not your fault," the nurse said. "I must have jiggled the needle or something. My hands aren't as steady as they used to be, and I have been doing this for hours already. Your whole arm is probably going to be bruised, I'm afraid."

"I'll survive," Hikari said, handing her the things she'd picked up.

"Arigato," the nurse said, then studied the vial intently for a moment. "Fortunately, it looks like I managed to get enough before I hurt you. You can go, Horaki-san."

Hikari bowed respectfully and then departed the office, noting how nervous several of her fellow students now looked thanks to her cry of pain. She ignored them and headed back to class.

On the way back, she passed a garbage can. After taking a quick look around to make sure no one was around, Hikari tossed away the vial with her blood in it, smiling triumphantly.

* * *

_Earlier that morning…_

Hikari sighed heavily as she went about the task of making breakfast, all too aware that this was the day Rei had said the blood tests would be occurring. Despite spending long hours trying to come up with a way out of it that wouldn't arouse suspicion, she'd thought of absolutely nothing.

It was ironic; she had escaped from the elaborate trap NERV had lain for her on the rooftop, only to see no way out of a much more mundane means of capture.

She had even asked her sisters for advice on how to avoid or fool the test. Nozomi had had plenty of ideas, but, unfortunately, all of them involved either kung-fu or Spirit blowing up every school in Tokyo-3. Kodama had simply said that she'd see what she could do, and then never brought it up again. Hikari suspected that her older sister felt like she was getting what she deserved for recklessly playing superhero.

As if summonsed by the thought of her, Kodama entered the kitchen, carrying a small box which probably contained some of her lab equipment.

"Nee-chan," Hikari said, "Dad's already left. Could you please call me in sick today?"

"Why?" Kodama asked. "Are you feeling ill?"

Hikari gave her an incredulous look. "Today's the day of the blood test, remember?" she said. "If they take my blood, they'll learn that I'm Spirit."

Kodama grinned. "Well then, we'll just have to prevent them from getting your blood, won't we, Hikari-chan?"

"Nee-chan?" Hikari asked.

Kodama placed the box she'd carried into the kitchen with her on the table and opened it, revealing some medical equipment. The eldest Horaki girl rolled up her sleeve and tied a strip of rubber around her arm, pulling the knot taut with her teeth while Hikari just watched, confused.

"Tokyo-3 Junior High will be getting my blood instead of yours," Kodama said, wetting a cotton ball with some hydrogen peroxide and then rubbing a small circle of it on her forearm.

"Nee-chan…won't they know?" Hikari asked, starting to feel cautiously optimistic despite herself. "That it's your blood and not mine?"

"Nope," Kodama answered with a grin as she carefully inserted the needle and watched the vial begin to fill. "The Japanese DNA database doesn't hold whole genomic sequences, just certain select groupings. Saves money, but it means they can't track DNA beyond the family bloodline. Government can't tell my blood apart from your blood—or at least, what your blood's supposed to be like—without more tests than they've already done."

"How do you know all this?" Hikari asked. "I mean, I know you're smart, but you study chemistry, and not even organic chemistry. This isn't exactly your field."

"A friend of mine who's a criminology major owed me a favor," Kodama explained.

Hikari's brow twitched. "Did you tell her…?"

"Of course not," Kodama scoffed. "I didn't really tell her much of anything. She probably assumes that me or someone I know…"

Kodama grabbed a pen that she had behind her ear and held the end without the point to her lips like it was a cigarette…or something a bit more illegal.

"…and is trying to avoid getting caught by a blood test," she finished. "Which actually isn't that far off, I guess. It's just what we're trying to conceal that she's probably got the wrong idea about."

Kodama, apparently judging that enough blood was inside the vial, pulled the needle out of her arm and affixed a band-aid to the small puncture in her flesh. She then handed Hikari the vial.

"There. Now, if you can manage to pull off the old switcheroo today, you'll be in the clear, at least for the moment," Kodama said.

Hikari swallowed, feeling her eyes suddenly become liquid. She was hit by a surge of gratitude and adoration for her older sister, accompanied by a wave of shame for the less than positive way she'd been thinking about Kodama ever since her sisters had found out that she was Spirit.

"You're the best older sister a girl could ever ask for, nee-chan," Hikari said softly.

Kodama smiled sadly. "We both know that's not true, Hikari-chan," she said. "But I do try and help you whenever I can, which isn't often enough."

Hikari looked at the glass tube of her sister's blood. "It _is_ enough, nee-chan," she said. "Arigato."

* * *

_The Present…_

Feeling more relieved than she had since she managed to shield Toji and Mari from flaming debris just in time, Hikari cheerfully walked back to her classroom. Having students constantly going in and out had disrupted class to the point that Sensei had ceased trying to give his morning Second Impact lecture and simply allowed the students who were present free time.

Most of the students were chatting away in small groups, which the class rep in Hikari couldn't help but find extremely irksome. She didn't even bother trying to restore order, however, and instead walked straight toward someone she usually avoided.

"Hello, Yuki," Hikari greeted the sycophant as cheerfully as she could.

"Hello, Hikari-san!" Yuki responded enthusiastically. "Are we still on for the anime convention this weekend?"

"Hai," Hikari replied. "But, I have a small problem. I was hoping to cosplay at this convention, but I can't run to the costume shop and get what I wanted. Today's the only day when I would have had time, but a…family's issue's come up."

Hikari saw Yuki's eyes light up; clearly the girl saw the opportunity to get the class rep indebted to her. "Oh, that's no problem at all, Hikari-san!" she said. "I was planning on running down to a costume shop myself right after school. I can pick up something for you."

"Arigato," Hikari said with a small bow. "I'll give you some money to buy my costume with."

"It's no trouble at all," Yuki said. "So, who do you want to go as?"

"Spirit," Hikari answered.

Yuki grinned. "You like her, too, huh?" she asked. "I was thinking about going as her myself, but I'd already settled on Lina Inverse. Anyway, I'll buy it this afternoon and I can give it to you tomorrow at school."

Hikari thanked Yuki again, then went over to the back of the room, where Shinji and Rei were sitting quietly.

It had been Nozomi who had suggested that NERV might be keeping track of who was buying Spirit costumes. Hikari had believed the idea was absurd at first; Spirit had become almost mind bogglingly popular with the cosplayers of Tokyo-3. Surely, she'd thought, keeping track of all those costumes would be impossible.

Then she remembered that NERV had the MAGI at its disposal. Kodama had told Hikari that the sixth generation supercomputer her university had could easily keep track of all those purchases and raise a red flag if someone bought an unusually large number of costumes. To the MAGI, a seventh generation supercomputer, the task would doubtlessly be child's play.

So when Yuki had invited her to an anime convention, Hikari had decided to seize the opportunity.

She still wasn't quite sure whether or not she was going to make up some excuse to get out of going, though. She had absolutely no desire to go to the convention with Yuki, but making the girl buy her a costume and then bailing on her would just be mean.

_It's not like I hate the idea of going to a convention and cosplaying,_ Hikari thought. _Really, I've always wanted to give it a try. But being alone with Yuki for hours on end…_

She smiled as inspiration suddenly struck her. "Shinji, Rei, are you two doing anything this weekend?"

The First and Third Children shared a quick glance before they both turned to her with a questioning look.

* * *

"Nothing? The tests failed to turn up anything?" Gendo asked from behind his entwined hands.

Even Kozo Fuyutski couldn't help but feel the urge to squirm beneath the force of Ikari's amber tinted glare, but unlike most, he was able to control said urge. Barely.

"Well, not nothing," Fuyutski said. "They did find a number of students who were using drugs."

Gendo all but rolled his eyes at _that_ statement. "We are not interested in that, Sensei. The tests completely failed to identify Spirit?"

Fuyutski nodded. "I'm afraid so. A few children were absent and will be tested later, but there's no real chance that one of them is Spirit. I had Section Two do a little digging on the girls. All of them were accounted for during at least one of Spirit's appearances."

"Which leaves us with very few possibilities," Gendo said. "Either the girl isn't in the public school system, or her blood shows no sign of her Angelic traits when she's not using her powers."

"I doubt it's the latter," Fuyutski said. "Shall I start compiling a list of all girls of the right age that are being homeschooled in the city?"

Gendo considered for a long moment. "No," he said at last. "We will continue to keep an eye out for her through the MAGI and Section Two, but there will be no more active attempts to find her for the moment. She's been quiet for a long time now. It's likely that her confrontation with Ramiel and misadventure on Yoshimata Tower has dissuaded her from pursuing her foolish games any longer."

Fuyutski nodded with approval, glad that Gendo wasn't planning on any further drastic measures to capture the winged girl. The failed trap for Spirit had cost so much money to set up that the repairs on Unit Zero's armor would be delayed for at least a week or two.

"But…what if she makes another appearance?" Fuyutski had to ask.

"Then we will just have to seize any opportunities as they come," Gendo said.

* * *

Shinji Ikari tried very hard to never offend anyone, and that meant always being as punctual as possible. His habits of preparing for every appointment early—neurotically early, one might argue—had mostly served him well in his short life.

At the moment, though, he really wished that he was a bit more lax about these things and had waited to put on his costume.

"Are you _sure_ the character you're going as is a guy?" Misato asked for what felt like the hundredth time, grinning wickedly.

"Yes!" Shinji exclaimed. "Stop teasing me!"

Misato giggled, silently wondering if her charge would be willing to let her take a picture of him. He looked hilarious in the white hakama, purple gi, and long red wig. The plastic sword at his hip and the crossed shaped "scar" he'd drawn on his face were somehow the icing on the cake.

"Gomen, Shinji-kun," Misato said. "But you do look a little silly."

Shinji sighed and decided to let that one go. Partially because he _felt_ a little silly, and partially because he had come to view Misato in a slightly different light since the Jet Alone incident. He'd begun to believe that his guardian was nothing more than a drunken party animal who just happened to have a talent for coming up with insane but effective tactics to use against the Angels. But, her incredibly courageous actions in the face of the Jet Alone disaster had shattered _those_ beliefs.

He looked up to tell her that it was no big deal, caught sight of her loading a roll of film into a camera, and promptly decided it wasn't too early for him to head for the bus stop.

"I'm heading out! Bye, Misato!" he said, dashing out of the apartment before she could respond.

He was out of the building in moments, and soon heading down the street for the bus stop where he and the two girls were supposed to meet. Shinji felt quite absurd walking down the street in the getup he had on, but he didn't dare wait until arriving at the convention hall to change.

The Third Child tended to underestimate his own importance and how shocked and awed most people would be of him for piloting EVA. However, even he knew that it would be a bad idea to let a building full of anime fans discover that the pilot of a giant robot walked among them. Hence, the "disguise."

He arrived at the bus stop, and was unsurprised to see that neither Hikari nor Rei was present; he was almost twenty-five minutes early, after all.

An old lady holding a grocery bag was in the glass booth, however. She gave the costumed teenager a long, disapproving look before she turned her eyes back toward the street.

Shinji let out a soft sigh. He really wished Hikari hadn't asked them to do this, but he'd felt like he couldn't say no. After all, Hikari had been his only friend for a good while, and she was directly responsible for him getting closer to Rei as well. And if Yuki was as bad as Hikari claimed, Shinji could understand why the class rep didn't want to go with just her.

Of course, why Hikari had even agreed to go with Yuki at all if she didn't like her mystified Shinji. But the Third Child just assumed it was one of those things that the opposite sex did which he would never be able to understand.

He waited silently, wishing his crazy costume had enough pockets for him to have brought his SDAT with him. Finally, after what felt like hours, he spotted Hikari approaching, dressed as Spirit.

Shinji winced as he took in her costume; the resemblance between her and Spirit was terrible. Hikari had obviously done some quick and dirty alterations to her costume, adding fabric to raise the bust line and lower the hem of the skirt, showing her usual modesty. She had dyed her hair silver, but it was a metallic silver, quite unlike Spirit's actual hair color. The fact that she was still wearing her usual pigtails didn't help the illusion, either. The fake wings Hikari was wearing were made from metal wire and some kind of white, mesh-like fabric. They were far too small and too round, looking like they'd go better with a fairy princess costume than a Spirit outfit.

"Hello, Shinji," Hikari greeted as she drew near. "What do you think of my costume?"

"It's, uh, nice, Hikari," Shinji replied.

Hikari beamed as though his obviously rather insincere compliment was more than she'd hoped for. Shinji just shook his head, confused.

"I'm glad you think so," Hikari said. "After all, you're one of the few people that's ever actually seen her."

"I never got a good look at her, really," Shinji said.

Hikari shrugged. "Still, you've at least gotten a look at her, unlike most people."

"Oh, look, there's Rei," Shinji said, gesturing toward the approaching First Child.

Rei had obviously put far less effort into her cosplaying than either Hikari or Shinji. In fact, all she seemed to have done was bought the costume Hikari had suggested and put it on. Yet despite this, Rei still looked more like the character she was imitating than either of her friends.

The fact that she had already somewhat resembled KOS-MOS probably helped.

"Hello, Rei-san," Shinji greeted with a polite bow.

"Hi, Rei," Hikari said.

Rei nodded to both of them, hesitated a moment, and then said, "I still do not see the point of this activity."

She said it in her usual toneless voice, but the First Child had a slightly sheepish expression that nearly made Hikari laugh out loud. There was just something cute and endearing about it. Even Shinji grinned.

"It's supposed to be fun, Rei," Hikari said. "But if you still don't get it by the time we leave, it probably means that this sort of thing isn't for you."

"Understood," Rei said.

The bus to the convention center arrived a moment later, and the trio got on. Shinji was relieved to see that a few other cosplayers were already on the bus. They found seats near the back, with Hikari having to lean forward to avoid crushing her wings.

"So," Hikari spoke after the silence dragged on. She was usually the one in their little group to break the quiet. "Anything new going on?"

Shinji glanced around to see if anyone was watching them. When he determined that the coast was clear, he whispered, "I've heard that EVA Unit Two is supposed to be arriving from Germany with its pilot in a couple of weeks."

He knew Hikari always liked to hear about EVA, and he was only too happy to share what little he knew with her.

"Really? Who's the pilot?" Hikari asked.

Shinji shrugged. "Some girl named Soryu. They won't tell me anything beyond that or even let me see a picture of her."

They reached the convention center a few minutes later, finding Yuki waiting for them in an elaborate Lina Inverse costume. "Hello, Hikari-san," she said cheerfully.

Her smile turned a bit brittle when she turned to Shinji and Rei, however. Obviously, she had wanted to get the class rep alone for a while. "Ikari. Ayanami. How nice to see you," she said. "The more the merrier."

The group went inside, where hundreds of anime fans, many of them also in costume, were going from booth to booth. Shinji was amazed at the number of fans cosplaying as Spirit; easily a third of the girls present were dressed as the mysterious heroine.

"Ikari, what do people do at these functions?" Rei asked while Yuki was talking animatedly to Hikari.

He shrugged. "Walk around, talk with other fans, buy anime, commission the artists to make a quick sketch for you, that sort of thing."

"But I do not watch anime," Rei said.

Shinji just shrugged, realizing he was more or less in the same boat. He had used to watch the occasional show, but they had almost all been giant robot anime. Ever since he had been introduced EVA, such shows had lost their appeal to him.

The group proceeded a little deeper into the mass of fandom, not stopping until Yuki spied a certain area that had been devoted to one thing.

"Hey, look! There's an Evangelion section!" Yuki said, pointing.

Indeed there was. A sizable bit of floor space had been roped off just for EVA related things, with man-sized models of Units Zero and One standing at either side of the entrance. Shinji was impressed and disbelieving at the same time as he looked at them. Whoever had made them had done a good job; they were actually fairly accurate to the real EVA Units, which was no small feat, considering that NERV did everything in its power to keep people from ever so much as laying an eye on the things. Yet part of him couldn't believe someone would go to so much effort over EVA, terrible, frightening things that they were.

Yuki laughed. "Let's check it out!"

"I'm not sure that's such a good idea," Hikari said warily. "Aida might well be in there. He's a huge fan of EVA. He might expose Shinji and Rei if he sees them."

"I don't see him there," Yuki said, squinting as she peered into the EVA section.

Hikari looked at Shinji and Rei. Shinji just shrugged. Rei made no reply.

"All right, let's go," Hikari said.

They walked into the EVA section, taking in everything there. Unlike all the other stuff present, there was no such thing as Evangelion merchandise, so everything there was hand made by fans. Still, there were numerous small figurines of the EVA Units fighting the Angels on several tabletops. A number of pictures of the EVA Units taken by people that were crazy or stupid enough to leave the shelters were also present.

Yuki laughed as she saw a table where someone was selling EVA key chains. She picked up one with a chibi Unit One and showed it to Shinji. "What do you think? You want one?"

Shinji made a face. "Um, no, thank you."

He almost added, "I get more of EVA than I want already," but stopped himself just in time.

They eventually left the EVA section, but they didn't roam around aimlessly for very long after that. Instead, they soon found the Spirit section.

Much like the EVA section, a pair of statues stood at the entrance, both of Spirit. However, whoever had made these was clearly under the impression that Spirit was about 25 years old, and _far_ more well endowed than she actually was. Shinji snickered softly as they drew near. Unnoticed by everyone, Hikari blushed at the sight.

The pickings in this section were much slimmer, probably due to the fact that it was much harder to get a good picture of a flying girl than a giant robot. There were a few blurry photos here and there, along with doll versions of Spirit fighting more Angel figurines.

The Spirit section did have one thing that the EVA section didn't though.

"'Exclusive, close-up video of the beautiful and powerful Spirit, up for auction at three o'clock,'" Yuki read off a nearby sign. "'Bidding starts at 5,000 yen.'"

_Exclusive close-up video of Spirit?_ Hikari thought with a frown. _But who could possibly have such a…uh-oh!_

She figured it out a second too late.

"Oh my god!" Kensuke shouted.

The otaku was sitting behind one of the tables, dressed as Jean from _Nadia: Secret of the Blue Water,_ a part he was even better suited for than Rei was for KOS-MOS.

Shinji made a rather frantic gesture for him to keep quiet, but Kensuke didn't seem to notice. "It's the EVA pilots!" he shouted, pointing.

"Oro?" Shinji blinked.

"Aida!" Hikari barked in her best class rep voice, causing Kensuke to wince.

But it was impossible for him to take back his exclamation, and already, everyone within at least twenty meters was looking at Shinji and Rei. Shinji swallowed; this was exactly what he was hoping _wouldn't_ happen.

"Just deny it," Hikari whispered to Shinji. "They're probably incredulous enough as it is. If you say you're not the pilots—"

"RUN!" Yuki shouted.

The crowd of fans immediately began to converge upon the four teenagers, but they were just a bit too quick for the fans. Shinji, Rei, Hikari, and Yuki all broke out into a spirit, vaulted over some of the ropes that separated the Spirit section from everything else, and were making a break for the doors with over a hundred screaming fans behind them.

"Section Two must be outside," Shinji panted as they ran. "If we can just get out of here, they'll help us escape."

"Then let's get out of here!" Yuki exclaimed.

"I believe that will be easier said than done," Rei spoke, not sounding the least bit out of breath.

The blue haired girl pointed to a man who was wearing paper mache EVA armor and standing in front of the main exit. He looked very determined to stop the pilots from escaping before he could get their autographs.

Without thinking, Shinji unsheathed his plastic katana and chucked it at the man. It flew through the air, spinning like a possessed pinwheel, and struck the man, the hilt of the toy weapon hitting him right behind the eyes. The man went down and tried to get back to his feet, but he was impeded by his bulky costume.

The four teenagers leapt over him, made it outside, and jumped into a waiting Section Two car.

"Go! Go!" Shinji shouted at the driver, who quickly floored it, peeling away with a screech of tires just as the huge flood of fans began to pour out the doors.

The four teenagers leaned back as the convention center faded from sight behind the car.

"I do not believe I wish to do this again," Rei said.

Hikari sighed. "I can't say I blame you. Sorry, guys."

Yuki giggled suddenly, and the others turned to give her confused looks. "I didn't know they trained EVA pilots to use swords! Hiten Mitsarugi style! Sword chuck!"

Shinji blinked stupidly at her, then, despite himself, he threw his head back and began to laugh.

Hikari just slapped her forehead and sighed.

* * *

Author's Notes: Part of me really wanted to have Spirit battle the JA. I mean, really, giant atomic battle robot just _screams_ "comic book foe." However, I believe the incident was important for Shinji and Misato's relationship. And since Spirit's already inadvertently kept him from becoming friends with Toji and Kensuke, I didn't want her to further harm his relationships with other characters.

This chapter felt a bit clunky to me, probably because I wrote it in an attempt to keep the pacing of the story from getting too hectic. I'm on the fence as to whether Hikari will participate in the next Angel battle, and if I decide that she won't, I don't want to jump straight from Ramiel to Israfel in the space of two chapters.

Inverness, I must admit that your interpretation of that particular line makes more sense than mine does. It seems I've meddled with cannon more than I had intended. Unfortunately, that scene was rather important, and I was building up to it for a while, so I'm not going to change it. Also, I'd rather not have Spirit "evolving," partly because I'd find it very hard to resist the temptation to make her stupidly powerful, and partly because I think it would freak Hikari out. Spirit's lack of new powers may be a plot point toward the end, though.

NefCanuck, I think if the pilots are seen buying costumes, it would cause problems, too. Hence, what happened in this chapter. The idea of Shinji buying Spirit costumes had too much potential hilarity for me to ignore, though (check the omakes).

Orionpax, Hikari's not too keen to let anyone else in on her secret. And since Shinji's so bad at keeping NERV's secrets, she really doesn't want to let him know, I'm afraid.

As always, thanks to all my readers and reviewers.

All right, now for some fun.

* * *

Omake

_I forgot to put this in the last chapter_

With a grunt of effort, the chemistry major picked up the eleven-year-old. Nozomi squealed, snatching up the remote a moment before Kodama could. The eldest Horaki girl responded by unceremoniously dumping Nozomi back onto the couch, and the two began to wrestle for the remote.

As Kodama and Nozomi fought, one or both of them hit one of the buttons to scroll through the channels.

"The economic situation—"

"Mixers are on sale NOW for only—!"

"Hey there, kids! I'm—"

"For a limited time only—"

"Rise Shining Gund—!"

"Bow chica wow wow—"

"Live at the Tokyo-2 Dome—!"

"Wait!" Hikari barked, abruptly causing the fight on the couch to pause.

"What is it, Hikari-chan?" Kodama asked, even as she retained her death grip on the remote.

"Go back a few," Hikari ordered.

Kodama and Nozomi traded a glance, then both seemed to shrug. Nozomi let go of the remote, and Kodama obediently began to scroll back through the channels.

The eldest Horaki girl quickly found the channel which had caught Hikari's interest. She immediately snapped off the TV upon finding it.

"Kami-sama," Hikari breathed reverently.

"We get the Playgirl channel!" Kodama exclaimed.

"But…why?" Hikari asked, her eyes wide.

Kodama shrugged. "Either there was a mistake at the cable company, or Dad really _does_ love us!" she said. "Who cares? Did you see the size of—?"

"What's the Playgirl channel?" Nozomi piped up, confused.

Kodama and Hikari traded a glance, then turned to look at the only prepubescent Horaki sister. Clearly, she couldn't be allowed to watch with them, which meant only one thing.

"Time for bed!" Hikari and Kodama shouted simultaneously, each grabbing Nozomi under one arm and picking her up, sprinting to the little girl's room.

"But it's only eight o'clock!" Nozomi protested.

"You're a growing girl! You need your sleep!" Kodama and Hikari shouted, still oddly in synch.

They literally flung Nozomi into her bedroom, barricaded the door so she couldn't get out, and rushed back to the TV.

* * *

_What if Hikari got Shinji to buy costumes for her?_

Shinji swallowed nervously as his eyes darted around his Father's office. The room's great size, the dim light, the strange and vaguely menacing patterns on the floor and ceiling…all of it seemed designed to intimidate.

And it worked. On him at least.

"Pilot Ikari," Gendo spoke up, leaning his face on his entwined hands as usual. "Section Two reported that you went into a costume shop yesterday and purchased a half dozen Spirit costumes."

"I wasn't aware that was a crime," Shinji replied, his right hand twitching in that nervous tic of his.

"Who did you purchase these costumes for?" Gendo demanded.

Shinji could feel sweat running down the back of his neck. Hikari had entrusted him with her secret; he couldn't tell. If he told, she would doubtlessly be taken to NERV and be treated like some kind of lab rat. At best!

But how could he explain his unusual purchase?

"I'm waiting, Pilot Ikari," Gendo said threateningly.

"They're…they're for my girlfriend Hikari to wear! When we…you know," Shinji stammered, blushing heavily. "It's a fetish of mine, all right?! I've been really attracted to Spirit ever since she helped me kill the Fourth Angel, and Hikari said she'd be willing to dress up as her. The reason I bought so many is because, well, I expect that we'll get them…stained."

_He's _never_ going to buy that,_ Shinji thought, feeling mortified at having made such an absurd and perverted claim.

Gendo lowered his hands, revealing his face. To Shinji's immense shock, his father was smiling.

"That's my boy," Gendo said proudly. "I should've known you had it in you, son."

_He…he actually called me 'son,'_ Shinji thought, feeling overjoyed to have gotten his father's approval, even if it was with a lie.

"I remember when your mother was alive," Gendo said wistfully. "We used to role play all the time."

_Well, there goes that good feeling,_ Shinji thought.

"Uh, Father…"

"She would dress up as Sailor Moon, and I'd be Tuxedo Mask," Gendo continued, apparently too lost in memories to have heard Shinji. "Sometimes we'd trade costumes."

Shinji's face turned a rather vivid shade of green at _that_ piece of information. "Father, may I go now?" he asked desperately.

Gendo waved a hand dismissively, and Shinji bolted out of the office, in search of a toilet where he could deposit the contents of his stomach.

* * *

_What if Hikari got Shinji to buy costumes for her? (Take two)_

Shinji swallowed nervously as his eyes darted around his Father's office. The room's great size, the dim light, the strange and vaguely menacing patterns on the floor and ceiling…all of it seemed designed to intimidate.

And it worked. On him at least.

"Pilot Ikari," Gendo spoke up, leaning his face on his entwined hands as usual. "Section Two reported that you went into a costume shop yesterday and purchased a half dozen Spirit costumes."

"I wasn't aware that was a crime," Shinji replied, his right hand twitching in that nervous tic of his.

"Who did you purchase these costumes for?" Gendo demanded.

Shinji could feel sweat running down the back of his neck. Hikari had entrusted him with her secret; he couldn't tell. If he told, she would doubtlessly be taken to NERV and be treated like some kind of lab rat. At best!

But how could he explain his unusual purchase?

"I'm waiting, Pilot Ikari," Gendo said threateningly.

"They…they make me feel pretty, all right?!" Shinji shouted. "Is that so horrible?!"

Gendo slammed his face down on his desk. He would need to have a long talk with Shinji's uncle.

_Damn it, I wanted the kid meek and antisocial. I didn't want him to be a cross dresser!_


	9. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: Neon Genesis Evangelion is the creation of Anno and Gainax. I don't own it, make no claims to it, and am making no profit from the fan fiction. No infringement of copyright is intended. In other words, please don't sue.

* * *

Chapter Eight

A heavily modified MiG Transport Helicopter flew through the sky over the Pacific, carrying what was easily one of the world's largest electrical plugs ever made by man.

In the rear seat of the chopper, Shinji Ikari stretched out, something he had fairly ample room to do, as he shared the rear with only one other person. "So where exactly are we going?" he asked. "I know we're supposed to pick up the Second Child, but where? All I see is water."

Misato's eye twitched. "How do you know we're picking up the Second Child, Shinji-kun?"

Shinji shrugged. "I'm in headquarters almost every day. I hear things," he answered. "Besides, I'm the Third Child, and Rei's the First. It was pretty obvious that there was one missing, and I can't see why you wouldn't bring her here, with the Angels attacking and everything."

He left it unsaid that he probably wouldn't have bothered keeping his ears open if not for the fact that his best friend loved hearing about the goings-on at NERV, and he felt keeping her as up to speed as possible was the least he could do in repayment for befriending his sorry self.

"So where are we going?" Hikari spoke up, getting the conversation back on track.

She was rather confused with the whole affair. Misato had shown up at her home that morning with Shinji in tow and all but demanded she accompany them on some kind of day trip. Hikari had agreed, despite the fact that Shinji looked rather pale and nauseous, mostly because she was curious about Unit Two and its pilot.

Then she'd climbed into Misato's sports car, and discovered why Shinji had looked so shaken. They'd somehow arrived at a military airfield alive, and now here they were.

"Oh, I thought you must be getting pretty sick of the mountains, so I thought I'd take you two out on a trip to a cute little boat!" Misato said cheerfully.

As if on cue, the helicopter began to descend. They passed through a few clouds, suddenly able to see a huge fleet of warships sailing through the ocean below them.

"Wow," Hikari gasped, shocked by the display of naval power.

Misato smiled. "We're heading for the big old lady down there, the super carrier _Over the Rainbow_."

"It's enormous," Shinji said.

"Personally, I'm surprised that such a relic can still float," Misato commented as the helicopter drew closer to the great warship.

As the helicopter drew near to a vacant landing pad on the deck of the carrier, Hikari's sixth sense for the Angels suddenly went off…but something was strange. It felt different than all the previous Angels had, very different. If the other Angels had been like someone nearby shouting, then this was a deep, low rumble from far off. It was quieter, but she had no doubt that whatever it was, it was _much_ more powerful than the other Angels had been.

It terrified her, but, bizarrely enough, it also enticed her. Part of her wanted it. Part of her wanted to change into her angelic form right at that moment, fly down to the fleet, and tear it to pieces until she found whatever it was.

Her skin broke out into goose bumps and she shivered with the disturbing combination of fear and desire that she was feeling.

_Stop that!_ She commanded herself sternly.

The feelings receded, and Hikari no longer felt the neigh overpowering urge to transform and seek out whatever it was. Still, she couldn't banish the sensations completely.

They landed, and Hikari jumped out before the rotors stopped spinning, eager to get out of the helicopter and take in a breath of sea air, hoping it would steady her. She immediately regretted her actions when the gusts of wind the helicopter created nearly blew up her skirt before she could push it back down.

_I really wish Misato had told me where we were going,_ she thought, blushing despite the fact that her skirt hadn't managed to make it above her knees. _Then I could have changed into pants._

Keeping her hands at her sides in case a sea breeze decided to do what the helicopter had almost done, she followed Misato and Shinji across the deck of the huge ship.

"Well, hello, Misato. How have you been?"

Hikari looked up and saw a gaijin girl in a yellow sundress standing before them, her red hair blowing about in the breeze. The class rep immediately felt a small stab of envy; the girl was beautiful, and even at a glance, she seemed to just radiate self confidence.

"Just fine," Misato replied cheerfully. "My, you've grown since I last you."

The redhead grinned. "And I haven't just gotten taller, my figure's filled out as well!"

"Let me introduce you," Misato said. "This is the designated pilot of EVA Unit Two, the Second Child: Asuka Langley Soryu."

At that very moment, a particularly strong gust of wind blew across the deck. Hikari was able to push her skirt down in time, but Asuka wasn't so quick on the draw, allowing everyone nearby a clear view of her panties.

Cursing in German, Asuka lashed out at the only male within striking distance: Shinji. The Second Child slapped him hard enough to leave an angry red handprint on Shinji's cheek.

"Wh-wha?" Shinji stammered, the Third Child's mind apparently stalling due to the combination of sex and violence, despite the low intensity of both.

"That's the viewing fee, pervert," Asuka explained with a sniff. "Quite a bargain, wouldn't you say?"

Hikari blinked, having mixed feelings about Asuka. While she was always in favor of punishing perverts (unless, of course, she happened to be wearing her mask), that had been a little harsh.

Besides, the idea of Shinji being a pervert was just plain laughable. Honestly, he was easily the least perverted teenage boy Hikari had ever met. So much so that for a while she'd suspected he might be a homosexual. That suspicion hadn't been put to bed until recently, when she'd seen him sneaking quick glances at a woman dressed as Faye Valentine during the anime convention.

"So!" Asuka said to Shinji, as though nothing had just happened. "Judging from the fact that everyone at the Third Branch kept referring to the famous Third Child as a 'he,' I'm guessing that you would be him."

"Y-Yes," Shinji replied. "I'm Shinji Ikari."

Asuka leaned in close to him, narrowing her eyes as she inspected him. "Not much to look at," was her verdict.

Shinji frowned.

Misato cleared her throat loudly, looking to avert any potential conflict between two-thirds of the EVA pilots. "Let's get going, everyone," she said. "I need to see the admiral in charge of this fleet."

She turned and began to lead the group of teenagers off toward the bridge tower. Shinji walked right next to her, but Asuka and Hikari lagged behind.

"So, as you probably heard, I'm Asuka," the Second Child said cheerfully. "Who are you?"

"Hikari Horaki," she said with a slight bow. "I'm a friend of Shinji's. He's not a pervert, by the way. I wouldn't be friends with him if he was."

Asuka shrugged. "Well, on the chance that he was, I had to stamp out any hentai thoughts he might have been having about me. I find it's much easier to stop perverts early on, before they develop sick fantasies about you."

_I wouldn't know, I don't attract that much male attention,_ Hikari thought, holding back a sigh. _At least, not as myself…_

"So, have you been piloting EVA long?" Hikari asked, eager to change the subject.

Asuka nodded proudly. "I've been training to pilot it for about ten years now! The Angels might as well just surrender now that I'm here!"

"I'm glad you're here, then," Hikari said in a sotto voice. "Shinji's a nice guy, but he seems pretty in over his head when it comes to piloting EVA. I've been wondering why they didn't have a better trained pilot brought in sooner to take some of the pressure off him."

Asuka seemed to swell with pleasure, both at the recognition of her skills, and at hearing someone who actually knew the famous Third Child say that he wasn't as great as everyone at the Third Branch had made him out to be. She liked this girl, Asuka decided.

"So, tell me, what do you know about this Spirit person I've been hearing so much about?" Asuka asked, wanting information on the more unexpected threat to her status as the top Angel killer.

Hikari suddenly grew nervous. "Oh, not very much, really," she said. "Shinji said that the Fourth Angel might have killed him if not for her help, though."

Asuka frowned and opened her mouth to say something, but she was cut off by Misato.

"Hey, hurry up, you two!" the Operations Director called. "You want to be left behind?"

Ending their conversation for the moment, the two girls picked up their pace and rejoined the other two members of their group.

* * *

A few minutes later found the group on the bridge of the massive carrier, with Misato and the admiral in charge of the fleet engaging in what Hikari could easily recognize as a thinly veiled pissing contest.

"The ocean is our jurisdiction," the admiral said harshly. "You will follow our orders here, Captain Katsuragi."

"I understand," Misato said. "However, you should be aware that in the event of an emergency, NERV's military authority overrides your own."

"She sounds just like Ritsuko," Shinji whispered to no one in particular.

Hikari arched an eyebrow at that. Shinji had mentioned the blond scientist to her now and then, but he'd never really told her what she was like.

"Well, I see that you're still as confident as ever!"

Everyone turned to see a tall, unshaven man in his late twenties or early thirties standing in the doorway to the bridge, smirking cheerfully. The loose, sloppy way he wore his tie mildly offended Hikari's sense of orderliness, but she did have to admit that he was handsome.

"Kaji!" Asuka squealed happily, throwing a hand into the air joyously.

In stark contrast to Asuka's reaction, Misato looked like she'd just swallowed a lemon, Hikari noticed. The class rep wondered what kind of relationship the two had.

"Thank you very much for your time, admiral," Misato said, saluting sharply, even as she glared at the unshaven man. "We'll get out of your way now. Please, take us to New Yokosuka as planned."

Misato left the bridge with the three teenagers in tow. She glared silently at Kaji as the group headed off and out of earshot of the admiral. Kaji just grinned sloppily back at her the whole time.

It wasn't until the group was packed uncomfortably into an elevator that was made for three people at most that the purple haired woman apparently deemed it safe to talk.

"What are you doing here?" Misato demanded angrily.

"Accompanying Asuka," Kaji answered, doing a surprisingly good job of sounding smooth, considering the cramped confines of the elevator car. "I'm on a business trip of sorts."

"Talk about careless, I should have anticipated something like this," Misato grumbled.

* * *

Miles beneath the waves, the massive form of the Sixth Angel stirred, sensing the call of the All-Father. It was weak but unmistakable.

It's numerous red eyes opening slowly, and the Angel began to swim upwards toward the world of light and air.

* * *

Hikari gasped softly, her eyes widening as she sensed an Angel more like the ones she was used to approaching.

_First whatever's already here, and now _another_ one's coming?_ She thought in dismay. _What am I going to do? I don't even have my costume! Even if I did, they'd figure it out if I vanished and Spirit showed up!_

"Did he touch you?!" Asuka barked suddenly, misreading Hikari's distraught expression and glaring daggers at Shinji.

Shinji didn't say anything in his own defense, probably because he was too busy looking embarrassed at how he had somehow ended up with his head being pressed firmly into Misato's very considerable bust.

"No, he didn't, Asuka," Hikari said. "I'm just a little seasick or something. Say, Asuka, your EVA's here, right?"

Asuka grinned, her anger and suspicion of Shinji instantly forgotten. "Sure is. I'll show it to you later, if you'd like."

Hikari merely nodded, feeling relieved. _It's good that it's here, because I have a feeling that you're going to need it,_ she thought.

The elevator suddenly stopped with a ping, the doors sliding open. The people within very nearly fell out as a result of being so badly compressed, but they somehow all managed to keep their feet and made their way to an officer's mess hall.

With an angry huff, Misato sat down at one of the tables and crossed her arms, refusing to look at Kaji. Still grinning as though Misato's obvious displeasure at seeing him didn't deter him at all, Kaji claimed the seat opposite her. Asuka immediately plopped down in the chair next to him. Hikari considered briefly, then sat down next to Misato. Shinji apparently considered the choice he was given a no brainer, as he quickly sat down next to Hikari, rather than the girl who had slapped him earlier.

"So," Kaji said, "are you seeing anyone right now?"

"I don't see how that's any of your business," Misato replied curtly, glaring at the wall.

"Ouch, I'm hurt," Kaji replied, in a tone that suggested just the opposite.

_So he _is_ Misato's ex-boyfriend,_ Hikari thought. She had suspected as much almost immediately, but this little display dispelled all doubt.

"So, I understand you're living with Katsuragi," Kaji said, turning to face Shinji.

Shinji nodded. "Yeah."

"Tell me something," Kaji said. "Is she still so…wild in bed?"

"WHAT?!" Asuka, Hikari, and Misato all shouted as one.

_He…he wouldn't!_ Hikari's mind sputtered, appalled at the thought of Shinji entering into a sinful relationship with a woman twice his age.

Misato practically dove over the table, and for a moment Hikari feared that she was going to try and strangle her ex. Instead she simply slammed her palms down on the tabletop with enough force to knock over the nearest cup of coffee.

"What the hell are you implying by that?!" she demanded, very red in the face with anger and embarrassment.

Kaji looked unfazed. "Hmm, no, she hasn't changed a bit, has she, Shinji?"

The color drained from Misato's face with incredible speed as she realized that she'd been had; Kaji had baited her and she'd fallen for it hook, line, and sinker. She silently sat back down in her chair.

"Um, I guess not," Shinji answered Kaji. "But how did you know who I am?"

"Well, I ought to know you," Kaji said, holding up a finger like a teacher giving a lesson. "You're pretty famous in my line of work. The famous Third Child who piloted an EVA in his first battle with no prior training."

Asuka scowled slightly, suppressing a sigh of annoyance. She had been listening to this sort of thing ever since the First Battle of Tokyo-3, and she was getting sick and tired of it. However, she didn't get nearly as annoyed as she would have an hour ago, mostly because Hikari had given her what she was sure was a far more accurate picture of the Third Child's abilities.

"Oh, I was just lucky," Shinji replied, rubbing the back of his neck nervously.

"Luck is a part of your destiny! It's your talent!" Kaji proclaimed. He then rose from his seat. "Well, I'll see you later."

He walked out, with Asuka quickly getting up and following him without a word.

Misato, meanwhile, was holding her head in her hands, her gaze directed down at the coffee stained tablecloth. "It's a bad dream," she muttered to herself. "It's just a nightmare!"

* * *

Asuka hummed to herself as she leaned on the safety rail of one of the carrier's observation platforms, feeling quite cheerful. Having Kaji next to her helped to lift her mood, as always, and the knowledge that the great Third Child was really just a paper tiger didn't hurt either. Everyone would see that soon enough, and she wouldn't have to tolerate Kaji or anyone else praising him to death.

"So, what do you think of our famous Shinji Ikari?" Kaji asked.

Asuka snorted. "Him? He's boring."

"Hmm, and yet, his synchronization ratio in combat was well over 40 percent with no prior training," Kaji pointed out.

"Mein Gott!" Asuka exclaimed.

Perhaps she had been too quick to assume that the Third Child was no threat, Asuka decided. She had no doubt that Hikari had been telling her the truth, but the girl wasn't a member of NERV or anything. Asuka probably wouldn't have believed her so quickly, if not for the fact that Hikari had told her exactly what she'd wanted to hear.

It was a mistake, she knew, and she wouldn't allow herself to repeat it.

_Looks like I'll have to put you into your place after all, Third,_ Asuka thought, suddenly clenching a fist.

"Excuse me, Kaji," she said, marching off.

Kaji just grinned and shook his head slightly, already pitying the poor Third Child.

* * *

"So, that Kaji's pretty…interesting, huh?" Shinji asked as he, Hikari, and Misato rode an enormous escalator up through the bowels of the ship.

"He hasn't changed at all, the chauvinistic pig!" Misato snapped.

_Ouch, I do not want to know how that breakup went,_ Hikari thought to herself despite her increasing nervousness. She could feel the Angel drawing nearer.

"Are you all right, Hikari?" Shinji asked suddenly. "You look a little…jittery."

"Hmm? Oh, yes, I'm fine," she assured him. "I guess I'm a little afraid of being so far out to sea."

"Aw, there's nothing to worry about," Misato said. "This tub's old, but she's still perfectly seaworthy."

"Hey, Third Child."

They looked up to see Asuka standing at the top of the escalator, glaring down at Shinji. Her eyes narrowed. "You're coming with me," she commanded in a tone that brooked no argument.

Asuka's expression then softened and she turned to Hikari. "You can come along, too, if you like. We're going to see my Evangelion."

_Well, I guess it's better that they be close to it when the Angel makes it presence known,_ Hikari thought as she silently followed Shinji and Asuka.

The Second Child led them to a small boat, which transported them from the _Over the Rainbow_ to the freighter _Othello_, the only ship in the fleet that was not made for war that Hikari had seen so far. On the main deck of the _Othello_ was a huge container with a brown tarp thrown over it, making it look like the world's blandest circus tent.

Asuka rushed over to the tarp and pulled part of it up high enough to allow Shinji and Hikari to see a red EVA laying in a pool of some kind of pink liquid. The Second Child looked at them expectantly, obviously waiting for them to comment.

The look in her eyes made it clear that the comments had better be positive.

"It's enormous," Hikari said, feigning awe. "I've never been so near to an EVA before. They look even bigger up close than they do in the pictures I've seen."

"It's…red," Shinji said.

"The color's not all that's different," Asuka said with a gleam in her eye. She gestured for them to enter the container and they obediently did so.

Asuka scampered across a bridge made of wooden boards mounted on barrels floating in the pink liquid and scurried up the side of her EVA, stopping on the highest part of it, which at the moment was the armor covering up the place where the entry plug was inserted.

"Units Zero and One were created as the prototype and the test type proof of concept, respectively," Asuka said, looking down at Shinji. "The fact that it synchronized with an untrained pilot like you is proof of that. However, my Unit Two's a little different. Created for actual combat purposes, my Unit Two is the world's first real Evangelion! It's the final production model!"

Shinji just looked up at her, and Hikari suspected that he didn't quite get the purpose of this whole thing. Before the Third Child could come up with any kind of response, the entire ship suddenly shook, very nearly sending Asuka tumbling from her perch and almost causing Shinji and Hikari to fall into the pink stuff.

"What was that?" Shinji wondered aloud. "An explosion?"

"Undersea shockwave!" Asuka exclaimed, sliding the down the side of her EVA and landing gracefully on the floating bridge. "And it sounded close!"

The three teenagers rushed out of the container and to the starboard side of the ship, grasping the railing and looking out to see a huge plume of water being kicked up by something under the sea. It came into contact with one of the warships, causing it to explode spectacularly.

"What's that?" Hikari asked, even though she had a pretty good idea.

"It can't be! Angels!" Shinji said.

"You mean a real one?" Asuka asked, sounding strangely excited at the prospect.

"This is really bad!" Shinji said. "We've got to go back and find Misato!"

Asuka smirked. "Now's my chance," she said. "Ikari, come with me! Hikari, you just stay put. I'll have this taken care of in no time!"

And with that, Asuka grabbed Shinji's wrist and began to drag him off, the Third Child protesting the whole way.

Hikari swallowed and looked out at the naval battle unfolding before her. The UN fleet was firing countless torpedoes and missiles at the Angel, but Hikari knew well enough that they could never get past an AT field with that kind of firepower.

_Asuka went off to get Unit Two up and fighting, I'm sure of it,_ Hikari thought. _She won't be back for a while. Maybe I could transform and lend a hand…No, they'd find out who I am if I did that. I don't have my costume, and even if nobody gets a good look at me, I'm probably the only teenage girl on this fleet besides Asuka. Misato would have to be an idiot not to figure it out._

Hikari didn't know Misato very well, but she seriously doubted an idiot could make it as high in the NERV chain of command as she had.

The pigtailed girl turned, hearing something massive stirring behind her. The tarp covering Unit Two began to move as the EVA got to its feet.

Drawn by the EVA, the Angel immediately changed directions and headed straight for the _Othello._ Hikari screamed as she saw the massive column of water coming right at her.

* * *

"Hikari!" Shinji cried out in horror, looking over his shoulder toward the burning wreckage of the freighter as Unit Two leapt to safety, landing on a nearby destroyer.

"I'm sorry, Third Child," Asuka said, genuinely sympathetic. "I know it sounds cold, but you can't think about her right now. If you do, us and everyone else here may well join her."

Shinji grimaced, but nodded, turning to face forward again. "What are we going to do? We only have 53 seconds of power left."

"We'll play hopscotch," Asuka answered.

"Hopscotch?"

Unit Two began to leap from ship to ship, using them as stepping stones to get over to the _Rainbow_. Shinji held onto the back of Asuka's command chair in a death grip and willed himself not to be sick.

* * *

Spirit threw her AT field up to shield her from the flaming debris of what had once been the _Othello,_ not even trying to fly. She couldn't see a thing thanks to all the water and smoke in the air, and the force of the explosion had spun her around so many times that she had lost all sense of up and down.

She finally hit the water after an indeterminable amount of time and quickly resurfaced, gasping for air.

Even with her AT field deployed, Spirit felt terribly exposed without her mask and the rest of her costume. She was about to change back when the sound of rushing water suddenly filled her ears.

Spirit turned and saw the Angel bearing down on her, the body of the enormous, vaguely fish-like monster starting to crest above the water. She gasped and shot up into the air, intent on not letting the beast get a second crack at her.

As if it knew what she was going to do, the Angel leapt into the air. It rose to an impossible height, much higher than Spirit had gotten, and then began to descend, opening its mouth.

"T-Teeth!" Spirit screamed as the Angel's maw fell toward her.

She reflexively sent one of her cross blasts upward, just as the Angel's jaw passed her. The burst of energy flew up into the Angel's mouth, right into the red core contained inside its body.

But, as with the Fourth Angel, one shot proved insufficient to shatter the ruby sphere. And even if she had been able to kill it, it wouldn't have stopped gravity. She took a deep breath...

And was thrown about in all directions as the Angel snapped its mouth shut and plunged back into the sea. For a second time in under five minutes, Spirit was thrown about crazily, this time through the water inside the Angel. It was nearly pitch black inside the Angel's body, the only illumination coming from the cracked but still glowing core.

_Now I know how Geppetto felt, _Spirit thought as she took aim at the core.

Another cross blast lanced out, the seawater boiling furiously around the burst of energy. Unfortunately for Spirit, the Angel's wild movements and the fact that she couldn't keep very still herself with the water churning around her threw off her aim completely. The cross blast missed the core by a wide margin. In fact, most of the blast failed to hit any part of the Angel; only one of the arms of the cross hit the inside of the Angel's mouth, and it failed to punch all the way through.

Spirit's lungs began to burn; she was quite certain that the ability to breathe under water was _not_ among her repertoire of powers.

_This whale needs a blowhole,_ she decided, swimming up to the nearest "wall."

White light formed in her palm, and one of her energy blasts slammed into the Angel's flesh at point blank range.

This time the attack _did_ manage to penetrate the Angel's body, shooting a fairly small but clean hole, revealing the ocean outside. Spirit realized that she'd fired downwards and hesitated briefly, wondering if she should try and blast another hole through the top.

The burning in her lungs and the fact that the first hole she'd made was already healing visibly made her decide to take the exit in front of her. Spirit swam through it, escaping the beast's body. The Angel quickly swam past her until there was nothing but water between her and the surface of the ocean.

Then itstarted to turn, probably coming for her again. Spirit's eyes widened.

_I don't have wings!_ She thought frantically, feeling the feathered appendages retracting back into her.

Abruptly losing interest, the Angel turned back to whatever course it had been on previously.

Hikari was only mildly relieved. Her lungs' yearning for air was growing unbearable, and her head was starting to spin. She frantically swam upwards, toward the sunlight above.

_Gotta make it to the surface,_ she chanted silently. _Gotta make it, gotta make it._

Her vision began to tunnel, and she started having trouble convincing herself that inhaling would be a bad idea as her natural instinct to breathe threatened to overwhelm her conscious command of her body.

_Gotta…make it…_

* * *

Unit Two slammed down onto the flight deck of the _Over the Rainbow_ hard enough to nearly capsize the huge ship. The EVA wobbled dangerously for a moment, but Asuka had not trained to pilot it for ten years for nothing. Unit Two soon regained its balance and picked up the power socket that had been placed onto the deck for it.

"Switching to external power supply," Asuka announced as she expertly inserted the plug into its proper place in Unit Two's back. The countdown timer flickered, showing four eights before going off as the computer registered the power flow. "Switch completed."

Shinji looked forward, seeing the huge plume of water that marked the Angel's location approaching them. It seemed to have slowed down, but he wasn't quite sure that wasn't his mind playing tricks on him.

"We don't have any guns," Shinji said, concerned.

Unit Two's left shoulder pylon popped open. "The progressive knife ought to do fine," Asuka said as she drew the weapon.

Shinji wasn't so sure about that, but he felt his doubts giving way to anger as he watched it approach and thought of what it had done. "Gut it like a fish, Asuka," he said, narrowing his eyes.

"You got it, Third Child," Asuka said.

The Angel rose partially over the water, finally allowing the two EVA pilots to get a look at it. Shinji's eyes widened. "It's gigantic," he breathed.

Asuka smirked. "The bigger they are…"

The Angel leapt into the air, slamming into Unit Two, sending the red titan sprawling, the progressive knife flying from its grip and plunging into the flight deck of the carrier. The mighty warship thrashed about in the water and came dangerously close to capsizing as the Angel's massive bulk landed on it.

But the Angel hadn't quite managed to do what it had intended; it failed to make it all the way onto the deck. Half its body was still in the ocean, with half of it on the ship, putting it in less than an optimal position.

"Looking good, Asuka!" Misato cheered from her place on the bridge.

Asuka smirked and retrieved her progressive knife, advancing toward the Angel. She stabbed it right above its mouth, blue blood spurting out of the wound. "Take this!" she shouted.

The Angel released a watery sounding roar, but Asuka didn't seem to be doing much of anything besides annoying it. In fact, the Angel's body was actually _healing around_ the progressive knife.

The Second Child cursed in German, pulling out the knife.

"We have to go for the core," Shinji spoke up.

"Well where the hell is it, Third Child?" Asuka demanded.

"I don't know. It—"

At that moment, the Angel opened its mouth and tried to bite off Unit Two's hand. It nearly succeeded, too, thanks to Asuka being distracted by arguing with Shinji; the Second Child just barely managed to pull her EVA's hand back in time.

"Asuka?"

"What?" she demanded.

"Found the core."

She frowned in confusion for a second, then her eyes widened with realization. "Mein Gott! Are you serious? It's in _there_?!"

"Yeah," Shinji sighed.

"Fine," Asuka growled.

Unit Two returned the progressive knife to its holster and then marched back over to the Angel. The EVA grabbed hold of the Angel's jaws, and Asuka grunted as she forced them wide open. She grimaced as she saw the rows of deadly teeth the Angel was sporting.

"I am not going in there without doing a little dental work first," Asuka proclaimed.

"Dental work?" Shinji asked.

Rather than answer, Asuka grabbed the progressive knife again, leaving only one of Unit Two's hands to hold open the Angel's mouth. Then she ran the knife through the Angel's teeth, sending jagged spikes of enamel the size of moving vans cascading down onto the deck of the carrier and leaving the beast with nothing more than short, blunt stumps.

"There," Asuka said with satisfaction once the Angel had been thoroughly defanged. "_Now_ we can go."

Unit Two plunged into the Angel's maw, which quickly snapped closed behind it. The Angel began squirming frantically, feeling the EVA moving around inside of it and apparently not liking the sensation one bit.

"Die!" Asuka shouted as she plunged her progressive knife into the core, just barely managing to keep her EVA on its feet.

The Angel's writhing increased in intensity, but Asuka held Unit Two firm. At last, the light in the core was extinguished and the Angel's movements ceased.

"Piece of cake," Asuka said smugly.

The Angel's body shifted slightly, causing Unit Two to wobble again. Asuka's eyes widened. "I thought it was dead!"

"It _is_ dead!" Shinji said. "I think that was just—"

The Angel's carcass went falling back into the ocean with a massive splash, taking Unit Two with it.

"Gravity," Shinji finished with a sigh.

Back on the bridge, Misato slapped her forehead. "Retract the cable!"

* * *

Twenty minutes later, Unit Two had been dragged back onto the deck of the _Over the Rainbow_ and the entry plug had been ejected. Asuka threw out a rope ladder, allowing herself and Shinji to climb down to the deck.

"Not the best finale I could have hoped for, but overall not too bad," Asuka said smugly. She turned and saw Shinji's downcast face and her feeling of triumph drained away. "Third Child…"

She had no idea what to say to him. What could you say to someone when their friend became a completely needless casualty in a war? Asuka hadn't the faintest clue.

_I shouldn't have invited her along,_ Asuka thought. _If I'd thought for even a second that an Angel would show up today…_

"I'm sorry, Third Child," she said eventually, feeling incredibly awkward. She hesitated a moment, then placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Arigato," he said softly.

Asuka heard the sound of running feet and looked up, seeing Misato and Kaji rushing over to them.

"Are you okay?" Misato demanded before she'd even stopped. "Are either of you hurt?"

"We're fine," Asuka said. "But that girl you brought with you…Hikari…she was on the freighter when the Angel destroyed it."

Misato paled. She had suspected as much but had clung onto the faint hope that Hikari was somewhere else when the Angel had shown up, that she had managed to get somewhere safe in time.

_What am I going to tell her family?_ She wondered.

Every officer dreaded having to write and send the "I regret to inform you" letters to the family of fallen soldiers, but this was even worse. Hikari had never enlisted for anything, never agreed to any risks. She hadn't even known where they were going when Misato had demanded she accompany them this morning!

"Hey, there!" someone called in English. "This belong to you?"

Misato looked up to see one of the sailors walking toward them…with Hikari at his side. She looked like a drowned rat, and the blanket that was draped over her shoulders couldn't conceal the fact that her dress had been reduced to a wet rag.

But she was alive.

"Hikari!" Misato called, rushing over to her.

Shinji looked up at last and then ran after Misato. "Hikari! Oh, thank god!" he exclaimed as he drew near to her.

He moved to hug her, then checked himself, not feeling particularly bold about that sort of thing after being called a pervert so many times that day.

_Ah, to hell with it,_ he thought abruptly, and drew her into a brief embrace anyway.

"Are you all right?" Misato asked. "You're not hurt are you?"

"I feel like I swallowed half the ocean," Hikari answered, wrinkling her nose, "but otherwise I'm just fine."

"Thank goodness," Misato said. "I'll make sure that your dress gets replaced. Sorry about this, Hikari."

"It's all right," she said. "I'm sure you didn't realize that an Angel was coming. Uh, can we go back to the city now? I think I've had enough of the ocean for today."

Misato smiled. "We should be arriving in port in an hour."

Hikari nodded, then she turned to Shinji, frowning. "Shinji…what are you wearing?"

* * *

Author's Notes: The original plan for this Angel was to have Misato opt against bringing Hikari. Her justification would be that she was hoping for Shinji and Asuka to hit it off and didn't want to make Asuka think Hikari was Shinji's girlfriend. Without Hikari around, the fight would go exactly the same as it had in the series.

Then I thought about how long its been since Spirit last fought an Angel, and most of the reviews said they wanted Hikari there. The problem was avoiding an "idiot plot," with Hikari looking like an idiot for becoming Spirit, and possibly needing Misato to be an idiot for not putting two and two together when she did. Then I came up for the idea on what happened in this chapter, and here we are.

Kenzie, I myself had all my wisdom teeth taken out less than a year ago; I feel your pain. I hope Asuka's work on the Angel's teeth didn't creep you out, too.

NefCanuck, Shinji as Kenshin just sort of felt appropriate to me, mostly because they're the two biggest male housewives in anime that I know of. Besides, Shinji had _some_ control over his costume and would have vetoed anything that invited too much teasing.

Cronomatic, I hadn't really planned on Yuki making another appearance, but we'll see.

Zoro50, at the convention, I was hoping that the readers would let their guard down when Kensuke wasn't at the EVA section, however, it appears I was unsuccessful. Fortunately, it will be a while before I need to add more filler to slow the pacing.

Orionpax09, as you can see, the restraints on Spirit this chapter actually caused things to go much better than they did in the series from Asuka's perspective. However, the Second Child clearly doesn't like the idea of Spirit swooping in and doing her job for her. I think you can imagine how this situation will unfold. :)

And, as always, thanks to everyone who read and reviewed.

* * *

Omakes

_Aftermath_

"God, I've said a lot of stupid things in my life, but none so bad as 'they make me feel pretty,'" Shinji grumbled to himself as he walked back to the apartment.

For once, he'd been glad that he and his Father didn't get along. In response to Shinji's claim of buying the Spirit costumes for himself, Gendo had just banged his head on his desk, followed by mumbling out a brief lecture. The only words Shinji had even caught were "manliness" and "NERV's public image." Shinji suspected it would have been a lot worse if his Father hadn't disavowed his paternal duties to him a long time ago.

And, ultimately, the excuse had worked. Hikari was safe from the threat of being exposed as Spirit, and Shinji didn't have to do any more explaining.

_If she hadn't already saved my life, she would seriously owe me,_ he thought. _Oh well, at least the whole ordeal's over with._

He opened the door to the apartment and walked in. "I'm home."

"Welcome home," Misato replied.

He walked over to the refrigerator to get himself something to drink but stopped before selecting anything. He glanced at Misato from the corner of his eye, realizing that she was watching him rather intently.

"What?" he asked.

"Shinji-kun," Misato began, "I just got a call from the Commander…"

_Damn it!_ Shinji thought, feeling his cheeks burning with embarrassment.

His guardian gestured for him to sit at the kitchen table with her. Reluctantly, he did so, noting that she didn't look like she was about to tease him, at least. In fact, she looked unusually sober (in both meanings of the word).

"I'll level with you, Shinji-kun," Misato said. "The Commander ordered me to get you to stop these 'deviant tendencies' even if I have to beat them out of you. But I have no plans on following that order."

Shinji blinked. "Arigato, Misato," he said on reflex.

She smiled slightly. "Well, I don't believe you can really change a person, and that trying to force them to change will just make them miserable," she said. "So long as it makes you happy and doesn't hurt anyone, I say you should do it. Though for both our sakes, you'll have to keep quiet about it so the Commander won't know."

For a moment, Shinji was nearly overcome with gratitude for Misato for being so understanding of his lifestyle choices.

Then he remembered that he didn't actually cross dress, which lessened the emotional impact. Still, it was very nice of Misato.

"Arigato, Misato," he said again. "I promise I'll be…discreet."

"Good," she said, grinning widely and dropping the serious attitude. "Now let's go shopping!"

Shinji's eyes widened. "Huh? What?"

"I haven't been clothing shopping with a girlfriend in forever!" Misato said. "Ritsuko can never find the time. We'll lose your Section Two detail and have a grand old time! I'll even help you pick out dresses and undergarments, Shinji-kun!"

Shinji could barely resist the urge to start sobbing as he was dragged out of the apartment by his guardian.

_Childhood Fantasies_

"You know, I thought that Asuka always tried to act adult," Ritsuko commented as she watched the main screen in the NERV command center. "I can't believe she'd do a thing like this."

"Tell me about it," Misato agreed, shaking her dead. "Back when I was her guardian in Germany, it was always 'I can't wear that, it's kid stuff' or 'I won't do that! That's for babies!'"

"How did she even get authorization to deploy Unit Two for this?" Makoto asked.

"Your guess is as good as mine," Misato replied.

Outside in the Geofront, Unit Two was making a crude pillow out of an enormous tarp. Once satisfied with her handiwork, Asuka placed this atop a pile of the teeth she'd cut out of the Sixth Angel's mouth.

"I'm gonna be rich!" she cackled as she headed back to headquarters.


	10. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: Neon Genesis Evangelion is the creation of Anno and Gainax. I don't own it, make no claims to it, and am making no profit from the fan fiction. No infringement of copyright is intended. In other words, please don't sue.

* * *

Chapter Nine

"Please tell me again how you killed the Angel, nee-chan," Nozomi begged as they got ready to leave for school.

"No," Hikari said firmly. "Now stop talking about it before you give away my secret. Besides, I didn't kill it. I just helped NERV kill it."

"Bet they couldn't have done it without you," Nozomi said.

"I'm sure that they could have," Hikari replied. "I wouldn't have done anything except watch if I'd had a choice in the matter."

"Guess it's a good thing you didn't then," Nozomi replied with a smile as they stepped outside.

Hikari sighed softly. Nozomi's awe of her for being Spirit had been rather amusing at first, but now she was starting to get a little annoyed by it. Sometimes it seemed as though everyone liked Spirit more than boring old Hikari, even her own sister.

Still, Nozomi's reaction to the events of the last battle was less worrisome than her father's, despite the fact that he knew significantly less about her part in it. He had been utterly furious when Misato had brought her home and explained what had happened, though the fervent apologies from the Operations Director had placated him somewhat.

Unfortunately, he still planned to "march up to Ikari's office and give him a piece of my mind."

If only a quarter of the things Shinji had told her about his father were true, Hikari knew that was a bad idea, but her own father was not to be dissuaded.

Well, there was nothing she could do about that now, she told herself as she and Nozomi stepped on the school grounds. At least Kodama hadn't freaked out again because of Spirit's latest romp, largely because Hikari had sugar coated the story as much as she could without lying.

Hikari and Nozomi arrived at school and parted ways, and Hikari made her way to class 2-A. She sat down in her seat, and waited for the arrival of one of her friends.

What she got instead was a very excited Kensuke Aida.

"Hey, class rep!" he greeted her enthusiastically. "I heard you were right there for the last Angel battle!"

"Yes, Aida, I was," Hikari answered.

"Sugoi! That's so cool! Man, I really wish that I had been there!" Kensuke said, looking dreamily off into the distance.

"Aida, I was on one of the ships that the Angel sank," Hikari said flatly. "I almost drowned."

The look on Kensuke's face made it clear that he was of the opinion that almost doesn't count. Hikari gave a small sigh. "Go sit down, Aida," she commanded.

Apparently sensing that the class rep was _not_ going to share every thrilling detail with him no matter what he did, Kensuke had the good sense to retreat toward his desk, much to Hikari's relief.

_He's utterly, utterly insane,_ she thought, pinching the bridge of her nose. _I wonder why Toji hangs out with him so much._

The PA system crackled to life before she could ponder the question further. "Will the representative of class 2-A please report to the office immediately?"

Hikari arched an eyebrow, wondering what they wanted her for. A couple of the other students snickered softly, immediately assuming that she was in some kind of trouble. Hikari wasn't worried. She knew that if that were the case, or if, heaven forbid, NERV had somehow discovered she was Spirit and was luring her into a trap, they'd be summoning her by name, not title.

She made her way to the school office, and was surprised to see a certain redhead there waiting for her.

"Asuka?" Hikari said.

The German grinned. "Hello, Hikari! I didn't know you were the class representative."

Hikari nodded. "Yes, I am. So, I guess you're going to be attending school here?"

"That she is," the wizened old secretary butted her way into the conversation. "Class representative, it is your responsibility to show her the school and help her become acclimated to Japanese school life."

"I understand," Hikari said with a small bow. She turned and gave Asuka a smile. "Class is starting in a few minutes. I'll show you around the school later."

"Sure," Asuka said, following Hikari off. "So, did you get a fancy new dress with NERV's money yet?"

"No," Hikari answered. "I did get a new dress, but Misato paid for it herself, so it didn't feel right getting something expensive."

"They wouldn't buy you a new dress? Mein Gott! I guess the rumors I've heard about NERV Central are true," Asuka said.

"So, where are you staying?" Hikari asked, rather than questioning Asuka about what the rumors about NERV Central were exactly.

"In a hotel for the moment. They had everything ready for my EVA, but they didn't seem the least bit prepared for me. That's bureaucracy for you," she said disgustedly. "Personally I'm hoping I'll get to live with Kaji!" she added in a dreamy tone of voice.

"The cool guy that was on the _Rainbow_ with you?" Hikari asked.

"That's the one!" Asuka confirmed with a grin.

They arrived at the classroom to find that Sensei had arrived during Hikari's brief absence, as had Shinji. The Third Child looked…taken aback when he saw Asuka.

"Class, we have a new student today," Sensei said. "A foreign exchange student from Germany. I'm sure you'll all make her feel welcomed."

With the exception of Shinji, every boy in the room was gazing at Asuka with an expression of naked lust. Hikari rolled her eyes. _Perverts…_

Asuka didn't seem to mind the attention, however. She strode to the front of the classroom with her chin held up proudly, a small smirk on her face. Hikari again found herself envying the gaijin's self-confidence.

Grinning, Asuka wrote her name on the board in English, using elegant script. "I'm Asuka!" she said cheerfully. "Asuka Langley Soryu! Charmed, huh?"

* * *

Tanaka Horaki had never been up to the Commander's office before, but he'd heard about it. Everyone had; even in an organization like NERV, where it sometimes seemed like the color of the tiles in the bathrooms was classified, people still gossiped around the water cooler.

Everybody called the Commander's office "the lair" behind his back. Tanaka had thought it couldn't possibly be as bad those who had been up their made it out to be.

He had thought wrong.

"I'm a busy man, Horaki," Gendo said without preamble as Tanaka strode inside. "Why are you here?"

Tanaka could feel sweat beading on the back of his neck. _This place is even _worse_ than people make it out to be!_

"Sir, the NERV Operations Director took my youngest daughter on an assignment with her without my permission and she was nearly killed in an Angel attack," Tanaka said.

"Yes," Gendo replied curtly.

Tanaka took a deep breath, feeling simultaneously enraged and terrified by the Commander. Hikari had almost died because of the actions of a NERV officer. Considering he had joined NERV largely because he wanted to _protect_ his daughters from the Angels, this really stuck in his craw.

It also didn't help his mood that NERV had refused to compensate him for Hikari's ruined dress. It was a small issue, especially since Katsuragi had paid for it out of her own pocket, but it still irritated him. It was a matter of principle.

"I'd like an apology, sir," Tanaka said as firmly as he could.

"Hasn't Captain Katsuragi already conveyed her apologies?" Gendo asked.

Tanaka nodded. "Yes, she has, sir. However, as Commander of NERV, you are ultimately responsible for the on-duty actions of all NERV personnel."

Gendo regarded the man coldly for a long moment. Tanaka could feel his anxiety building by the second but staunchly refused to show any of it.

Commander Ikari leaned back in his chair, finally speaking. "It's so expensive to raise children these days," he commented. "Food, clothing, housing, education…it would be a disaster if a man in your position were to lose his source of income."

Tanaka clenched his fists. If he didn't have a family to support, he would have rushed across the room and punched the Commander in the face.

Judging by the ghost of a smirk on Gendo's face, not to mention the way he'd phrased his rather obvious threat, Tanaka suspected that the Commander knew _exactly_ what was going on inside his head.

He looked to the Vice Commander, who stood still and silent behind the Commander like a sentinel. He would get no help from the older man, Tanaka realized at once.

_I guess Hikari was right when she said nothing would come out of this,_ he thought bitterly.

"I see," Tanaka said.

"Get out of my office, Horaki."

Tanaka nodded, turned on his heel, and marched out.

"You could have just apologized, Ikari," Fuyutski chided once the man had left. "Talk is cheap after all."

"But reputations are not," Gendo replied. "I will not damage mine for a completely replaceable cog in the machine such as Horaki. Now, on to more important matters…"

* * *

Hikari was incredibly anxious the next day at school, though, as usual, she tried not to let it show.

Part of it was because she was thinking about the strange Angel she'd sensed on the UN fleet. She hadn't stopped feeling its presence until they'd left the fleet, which meant it had probably been on one of the ships. And _that_ meant that unless the fleet had taken it with them, it was probably in Japan.

Considering that Japan hosted the city that the Angels always seemed to make a beeline for, Hikari strongly doubted that the Angel she'd sensed had left with the fleet.

Most of the reason behind her anxiety, however, was the fact that she could sense another Angel approaching. In fact, this was probably also the reason why she was thinking about the mystery Angel she'd sensed on the UN fleet. She had Angels on the brain, and nothing could take her mind off of them at the moment.

Or so she thought.

"'Photo applications,'" Hikari read off a sign that had obviously been very hastily made and taped to a wall. "'Asuka Langley Soryu: only 30 yen per picture. Spirit: 150 yen per picture.'"

Arching an eyebrow, she moved to investigate and was not terribly surprised to find Kensuke Aida nearby, sitting against a wall and trying to look innocent. She glanced around, instantly realizing that Kensuke was at a very strategically placed spot. It was impossible to sneak up on someone here; he could easily see any teachers or class representatives coming.

"Hello, Aida," she greeted him, placing her hands on her hips.

He looked up at her with a nervous grin. Between the fact that he was sitting down and the growth spurt that had followed her first transformation into her angelic form, Hikari towered over the otaku.

"Hey, class rep," he replied.

"You wouldn't happen to know anything about that sign over there would you?" Hikari asked. "The one about the photographs?"

"Sign? No, I have no idea what you're talking about," Kensuke replied.

His poker face was terrible, Hikari thought.

She knew from experience that if she applied a little pressure, he would crack like an egg and confess everything. A few threatening words, an implication that she already had proof that it was him and that it would be better if he confessed, and he would immediately spill his guts.

"Hmph," she sniffed. "Well, if you should happen to encounter whoever is running this disgusting little operation, let him know that he'd better shut it down immediately. Because if I catch him, I'll have him on clean up duty until he graduates."

Kensuke just nodded as she walked off.

Once she was a safe distance away from him, Hikari allowed herself a small grin. _Wow, pictures of me are worth five times as much as pictures of Asuka!_ She thought.

Of course, she realized that the economics of supply and demand probably had a great deal to do with the prices. Asuka went to their school, making it fairly easy for Kensuke to take pictures of her. Spirit, on the other hand, appeared only very rarely. Kensuke probably had nothing to offer his customers besides screenshots from the video he'd gotten of her.

All the same, finding out that pictures of her were more highly prized than those of the beautiful and exotic gaijin was a nice little ego boost. It was another case of Spirit being more popular than Hikari, but she felt like she could live with this one.

Feeling slightly better, Hikari walked over to Shinji, who was standing on a bridge that separated the elementary school from the junior high school.

"Hello, Shinji," she greeted. "Something interesting going on?"

He gestured, and Hikari spied Asuka talking to Ayanami, who had returned to school that morning. She watched as Rei walked off, leaving Asuka looking confused.

"Asuka tried to make friends with Ayanami," Shinji explained.

Hikari winced, knowing that friendship with the enigmatic First Child wasn't something that came easily.

Before she could comment, Shinji's cell phone went off. He quickly pulled it out and answered. Hikari watched as his face turned grim.

_Finally, it's starting,_ she thought.

* * *

"The recent battle against the Fifth Angel has severely damaged Tokyo-3's intercept system," Misato told both the pilots from her place in the mobile command vehicle. "Only 26 of our defensive capability has been restored. In addition, our capability for actual combat is virtually nil. Therefore, we're going to intercept the target at the water's edge. The plan is to attack the Angel in a series of waves. In other words, get in close and take turns!"

"Roger!" Shinji and Asuka responded crisply.

The Second Child's professionalism evaporated a moment later, however.

"This sucks!" she complained. "Why do I have to bring _him_ along for my first battle in Japan?"

"SOP," Shinji replied, opening up an EVA-to-EVA channel. "That's just procedures."

"Well let me tell you something, Third Child! You'd better not get in my way!" Asuka snapped angrily, causing Shinji to stammer wordlessly for a few seconds before closing the channel.

"Message from headquarters, Captain," Hyuga spoke up. "They've picked up the red/blue pattern. It looks like we've got backup."

"Spirit's here?" Misato demanded. "Where exactly?"

"Holding position on the roof of an abandoned building, roughly half a kilometer from the water's edge," Hyuga answered. "It looks like she's going to let us make the first move against the Angel."

"Good!" Asuka chimed in. "That's the only one I'll need!"

"Any orders from headquarters regarding Spirit?" Misato asked, suppressing the anxiety she was feeling.

"So far the Vice Commander has only ordered that we ignore her until the Angel's destroyed, unless she takes hostile actions, of course," Hyuga answered.

Misato grimaced, not wanting to think about what the orders for after the Angel was defeated would be. Asuka had mentioned Spirit several times to her, and it was clear that the Second Child didn't think very much of the winged girl. But Shinji felt that he more or less owed Spirit his life. If Fuyutski ordered the EVA's to capture Spirit…

She shuddered at the thought of Units One and Two brawling on the beach over the girl.

_At least the Commander took off for a conference again,_ she thought.

* * *

Spirit stood on top of an old, crumbling building, watching the two EVA Units as they plunged out of the sky, having been released from their massive carrier planes. The two huge war machines landed on the beach, kicking up enormous clouds of sand, and waited while power cables were connected to them by NERV personnel using heavy machinery.

She had decided that she was going to just wait and watch until it was clear that her help was needed. If Asuka was as good as she said she was, then Spirit might never be needed again. She could hang up her mask and never have to worry much about NERV finding her.

The thought of never assuming her alternate identity again was surprisingly painful, she realized. But what justification would there be for her to keep this up if Asuka was good enough to make her redundant? Too many people needed her for her to do such crazy things needlessly.

_Even if they are surprisingly fun most of the time,_ part of her mind spoke up.

All such thoughts were put out of her mind when the Angel emerged from beneath the water. It was a huge, gray and black thing with a strange, yin-yang pattern on what she assumed was its face. The monster was more or less humanoid, much like the Third Angel. Standing ankle deep in the water, it was still a good kilometer or so from the shoreline.

Unit Two went into action at once. The scarlet titan charged forward, using the roofs of old, half submerged buildings as stepping stones once it passed the shoreline. Before the Angel could even hope to react, Asuka brought down the progressive spear Unit Two was holding, cleanly bisecting the Angel vertically down the middle of its body.

Shinji was impressed. Asuka was smug.

Spirit was wary.

_Oh no, I already made the mistake of declaring victory too early once,_ she thought, narrowing her eyes. _Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me._

The two halves of the Angel suddenly shuddered, each one morphing into a smaller version of the original Angel, one orange and one greenish gray.

Spirit immediately took to the air.

Unit Two tried to strike the gray Angel with her spear, but it grabbed the shaft of the weapon and began to grapple with the EVA for it. Unit One raised its pallet rifle and immediately began to fire on the orange Angel, but the huge shells just bounced harmlessly off its tough hide.

Deciding to the go to the aid of the less heavily trained EVA pilot first, Spirit flew straight for the orange Angel, white light appearing in her palm.

The Angel leapt into air toward Unit One, and right when it was at the apex of its jump, Spirit fired, the cross blast slamming right into the Angel's core and sending it sprawling back into the water, creating a huge wave of water as it splashed down.

It burst back above the surface a moment later, its core visibly cracked. Spirit grinned. _One more hit and this one will be done for,_ she thought, getting ready for the second shot.

That was when the core glowed brightly, the cracks in it shrinking and then closing up, leaving the red sphere totally unblemished.

Spirit's eyes widened. For all the Angels' healing abilities, she had never seen one regenerate its core before now.

She looked up to see the other Angel approaching, its own core glowing brightly in harmony with its twin's. Had it healed the other Angel's core with its own somehow, she wondered.

_Wait a minute. What happened to Asuka?_ Spirit thought.

She looked beyond the gray Angel and was shocked to see a pair of huge red legs sticking up from a crater in the ground not far off.

_It beat her already?! Oh come on! I thought she was some kind of super pilot!_

Spirit soared forward, light gathering in her hand again as she advanced on the gray Angel, hoping that Shinji could fend off the orange one. With luck, the two of them could take down the two Angels together even without Asuka's help.

Unit One raised its rifle again, this time firing directly on the orange Angel's core. The Angel immediately stopped advancing, crossing its arms over its torso to protect the red sphere.

_If Shinji can keep that one too busy to help the gray one, maybe I can take it out and we can gang up on the orange one together,_ Spirit thought, readying her shot.

The gray Angel lashed out with one of its spindly looking arms, and, thanks more to pure luck than anything else, managed to strike Spirit right in midair! She screamed, feeling bones fracture from the sheer force of the blow, and went plummeting toward the green water of the ocean.

She landed with a large splash, bubbles coming from her mouth as she groaned, both from the pain and from the knowledge that she'd _never_ get the salty smell out of her costume.

_Ugh! Not again! If I never see the ocean again after this, it'll be too soon!_

Shocked at seeing what had happened to the girl that had saved his skin in the battle against the Fourth Angel, Shinji did the worst possible thing he could have done in that situation.

He stopped firing.

The Angels wasted no time in exploiting the opening. The one Unit One had been shooting at immediately got back up, and the eye holes in the Angels' bony, vaguely face-like protrusions flashed. Unit One was slammed backwards by a pair of energy blasts. The violet giant landed in the ocean water and did not get up.

Mere seconds later, Spirit burst out of the water and was again flying through the air, her wounds now no more than a memory thanks to the healing powers granted to her by her S2 organ.

She grimaced as she saw Unit One's motionless form. She hoped Shinji was all right, but she had more pressing things to do at the moment than worry about her friend.

_Now _I'm_ the one that's outnumbered! _She thought in dismay. _How can I possibly take out both of them by myself?_

The Angels both fired energy blasts at her, apparently just a _little_ ticked off at her for cracking one of their cores earlier. Spirit dived sharply to avoid the attack, turning herself upwards and ascending again mere meters before she hit the sea water _again_.

They tried to strike her with their arms again, but Spirit was quick, small, and a lot more wary of them than she had been two minutes ago. Barring another incredible bit of luck, they couldn't hit her. Even so, she was amazed at how the two giant monsters weren't getting in one another's way as they flailed about trying to swat her out of the sky.

_I've got to figure out a way to finish this,_ Spirit thought with clenched teeth as she avoided another energy blast. _They're going to get me eventually if I don't._

Taking a deep breath, she summonsed up the now familiar sensation of incredible power within her. This time however, she urged it to come more strongly than she ever had previously, until she could feel it building within her like carbonation behind a cork, just waiting to burst out.

White light began to form by _both_ her palms.

"Take this!" Spirit shouted, firing off two cross blasts.

Her aim was true, and the white energy slammed into the two Angels' cores, cracking the red spheres and sending both monsters reeling. They looked up and retaliated with their own energy attacks, but Spirit was too quick for them, diving out of the way easily.

"Just once more," she said to herself, panting.

The double cross blast had taken a lot out of her, draining her far more than doing two separate attacks. But attacking these things separately wasn't an option, and she was going to have to summons up one more such attack to end it.

Her efforts to muster the energy for another double cross blast ended before they really began.

Spirit saw all the military aircraft that had been circling the area abruptly leaving. She glanced toward the shore and saw that the handful of NERV personnel present were also retreating in their trucks and Jeeps, leaving behind the heavy cranes they'd used to connect the EVA's power cords, as well as the EVA weapons cache piled on the beach.

Spirit was no military obsessed otaku like certain people she knew, but even she had a pretty good idea what such an abrupt withdrawal portended.

_They wouldn't!_ She thought, horrified. _They're going to use an N2 mine!_

Spirit turned and flew away as quickly as she could, desperately trying to get far enough away from the Angels to prevent their AT field from neutralizing her own. She hadn't flown so quickly since Toji and Kensuke had been in danger of being crushed under a few hundreds tons of Evangelion.

The world turned white around her mere seconds later.

* * *

The mood in the debriefing room inside NERV headquarters was grim, to put it mildly, as the pilots and other top personnel went over the organization's epic failure against the Seventh Angel.

"Today at 10:56 a.m., Unit Two engaged the target, splitting in two with a melee weapon and apparently killing it," Maya said as she worked the projector, showing a slide of the Angel's original form.

"Twenty seconds later, the Angel split into two sub-Angels, designated Alpha and Beta," Maya continued, moving to a new slide that showed the two Angels. "At this point, the anomaly known as Spirit entered combat, engaging target Alpha."

A new slide appeared, showing Spirit firing one of her energy attacks at the Angel. "Target Alpha's core was damaged, but it soon regenerated and reengaged."

The next slide showed Unit Two buried upside down in a rice patty. "At 10:58 a.m., Unit Two was disabled by target Beta's attack. Twenty-five seconds later, target Alpha managed to strike Spirit, knocking her into the ocean. Unit One was then immediately disabled by attacks from both Alpha and Beta, thus ending NERV's participation in this battle. I believe the Project-E chairperson most accurately summed up the EVA's performance in this engagement."

"This is pathetic!" shouted a recording of Dr. Akagi.

"This is all your fault!" Asuka snapped, pointing an accusing finger at Shinji. "You totally screwed up my debut battle! You and that…that winged witch!"

"You were the one who charged in there like an idiot!" Shinji replied heatedly.

"At 11:59 a.m., Spirit emerged from the water and reengaged the targets," Maya said, ignoring the two pilots and changing slides again. "Using two energy attacks at once, something we have not observed her doing before, she was able to damage the cores of both the Angels."

"At 11:02 a.m., NERV transferred command of the engagement to the UN Secondary Force," Maya continued. "At 11:04 a.m., the UN made an attack with an N2 mine."

"We'll have to redraw the map again!" Vice Commander Fuyutski barked, looking disgustedly at the image of the damage done by the blast.

"Why did we transfer command at all?" Shinji protested, turning to face the old man. "She was _winning_! There was no need for that!"

Fuyutski just glared at him, and though he wasn't nearly as good at it as Gendo, he was skilled enough to intimidate Shinji and cause him to turn back around to face the screen.

"Spirit apparently saw the UN bombers abruptly breaking off," Maya said. "She disengaged from the battle prior to the mine's explosion and was far enough away from ground zero that her AT field was able to protect her."

Another slide, this one showing the two Angels after they'd borne the brunt of an N2 blast. Large chunks of their bodies had been burned away, and they were slumped rather pathetically, standing back-to-back.

"At 11:10 a.m., Spirit reengaged the targets, attacking with an energy attack."

Maya switched to a slide showing Spirit using one of her cross blasts. It went cleanly through both Angels.

"Both Angels' cores were pierced by this attack. The targets exploded violently following the destruction of their cores. Spirit was unharmed by this blast and left the scene. NERV surveillance devices lost track of her at 11:16 a.m."

"We've been completely humiliated by that girl again!" Fuyutski snarled angrily. "The Committee will be furious about this!"

"Well, at least the Angel's dead, and you really can't ask for much more than that," Kaji said, sounding bemused.

If the Vice Commander heard Kaji, he ignored him completely. Giving the pilots a stern look, he asked, "All right, you two, just what do you think your job is?"

"Piloting EVA," Asuka said.

"Wrong!" Fuyutski snapped. "It's to defeat the Angels! NERV does not exist to make grotesque public spectacles! Therefore, the two of you will learn to work together, in order to avoid this kind of thing in future engagements!"

"Why should we?!" Shinji and Asuka snapped, glaring at each other.

"Enough," the Vice Commander scowled, then pressed a button on a nearby console, causing the personal lift he was standing on to the descend.

"Why does everyone get so angry here?" Asuka asked.

"Adults have a thing about credibility," Kaji answered.

"Hey, do you know where Misato is?" Shinji asked the unshaven man.

He had a sneaking suspicion that NERV had transferred command to the UN knowing, nay, _hoping_ that they would drop an N2 mine out of a desire to see Spirit annihilated. He wanted to ask his guardian if he was just being paranoid, or if it was possible that NERV really was willing to cause people to lob nukes unnecessarily in order to be rid of someone who had done nothing but help them so far.

"Oh, she's taking care of things," Kaji replied with a smirk.

* * *

Misato felt a wave of nausea sweep over her as she looked at it. It was perhaps the most horrifying sight she had ever seen…

All right, that was an exaggeration, but only because Misato Katsuragi had been witness to Adam, the First Angel, when he was in his adult state. What lay before her was really that terrible.

Her desk was buried under a literal mountain of paperwork.

"Look what we have here," Ritsuko said, sounding disgustingly cheerful at Misato's predicament. "Here are the complaints and damage reports from the bureaus concerned, a bill from the UN, a complaint from public relations, and…"

The bottle blond scientist picked up one of the seemingly endless forms and frowned as she read it. "…a letter from Hasbro, requesting a meeting to negotiate the rights to produce a line of Spirit action figures?"

Misato's eye twitched. "Why the hell would they ask _us_ about that?"

Ritsuko shrugged. "Who else could they ask? It's not like the girl has her own PR agent. Personally, I'm a little insulted they aren't asking for the rights to make EVA figures."

The Operations Director decided not to tell her friend that Hasbro had already asked about that, but she'd known the Commander would never go for it and had rejected the offer.

"I guess it's just as well, though," Ritsuko continued. "I mean, really, they'd probably make them transform into cars or planes or something and—"

Misato snatched the letter from Hasbro out of Ritsuko's hand, crumpled it up, and threw it into the waste bin. It was surprisingly satisfying.

_One down,_ she thought, then turned to the rest of the paperwork. _Only a zillion or so to go._

"You should know that Commander Fuyutski isn't exactly happy with what happened," Ritsuko said, not the least bit phased by how visibly agitated Misato was. "In fact, short of the Angel destroying the city and headquarters, I think the way this battle turned out was the worst case scenario."

"As soon as Spirit showed up, I knew it was good luck that Commander Ikari left for a conference yesterday," Misato sighed. "I just didn't realize exactly why."

"If Commander Ikari was here, you'd have already been fired," Ritsuko said. "As it is, Commander Fuyutski has asked me to tell you that if Spirit gets the next Angel, you're going to be relieved of duty."

"Then I guess I'll have to pull out all the stops next time," Misato grumbled. "It's so stupid. What does it matter who exactly kills the Angels, so long as they're killed?"

"It's all politics," Ritsuko said. "You have to admit that it would look bad if Spirit killed every Angel, leaving the multi-trillion yen Evangelions we built to fight them collecting dust."

"I guess," Misato conceded.

Of course, she mused, governments wasted taxpayer money all the time. Hell, every time the defense grid opened up on an Angel before an EVA was deployed, several billion yen were tossed down the drain. But not using the EVA's would be wastefulness on a far grander scale than people were used to accepting.

Besides, she had her own personal reasons for wanting to see the forces she commanded smash the Angels.

"Well, have fun with all of this," Ritsuko said, gesturing to the papers before she left Misato's office.

Misato sighed. There was nothing to do but roll up her sleeves and get to work.

"…maybe I'll get a coffee first," she said to herself. "That'll help me work faster."

* * *

Some people were of the belief that no good deed in life goes unrewarded, that karma or some other force would ensure that any virtuous act would be repaid accordingly.

At the current moment, Hikari was leaning toward the idea that no good deed in life goes _unpunished_.

"I'm telling you, Spirit and the baka totally ruined everything!" Asuka ranted. "The great Third Child was completely useless, and the winged wonder didn't do anything except get in my way! If it had been just me there, I would have taken out the Angel in no time! But I got chewed out because Spirit got the kill!"

Hikari had been listening to this ever since she had agreed to walk home with Asuka after school. She had agreed mostly because Nozomi was going to a friend's house, rather than back to their own home, and right now Hikari was silently damning her younger sister for it.

"Spirit flew right up between me and the Angel!" Asuka continued. "I couldn't hit it because I was afraid of killing the stupid girl, and the Angel got a free shot! And the baka just stood there like a total dumkopf the whole time!"

Of course, since Hikari had been at the battle, she knew that Asuka's description of events was far from accurate. Unfortunately, she couldn't say anything without revealing herself.

"I'm sure they both meant well," was about the strongest thing Hikari could say in defense of herself and Shinji.

"Yeah, well good intensions aren't going to win this war! I swear, if I ever get my hands on that girl…" Asuka growled, shaking a fist at nothing in particular.

_And just the other day I was thinking about how everyone likes me as Spirit more than me as Hikari,_ she thought, suppressing a sigh.

They at last reached the apartment building that Asuka was moving into that very day. "I hope my stuff's arrived already," the Second Child said, abruptly ending her rant and shifting back to the much more cheerful version of Asuka so quickly that Hikari blinked in surprise.

After a short ride in the building's elevator, they came to the door to Asuka's new home. Hikari suddenly realized she'd been to this very apartment before, back when Shinji had been stuck inside a NERV holding cell and she'd come to deliver his printouts.

"You're living with Misato?" Hikari asked while Asuka went fishing through her bag for her key.

"Yup!" Asuka answered cheerfully. "She's my legal guardian now. I lived with her for a while back in Germany, too."

"But I thought that Shinji was living with Misato," Hikari said.

"I'm sure they found him some place else to live," Asuka replied, finally producing her key and opening the door.

Hikari blinked at the sight of the dozens of DHL boxes that were stacked in the apartment. Could Asuka really have collected this much stuff in Germany?

_The boxes have stuff written in German on them, so I guess it must be hers_, she thought, wondering what could possibly be inside all of them.

Before Hikari could ask about it, Shinji entered the apartment, looking confused. "Hello, Hikari. Hi, Asuka," he greeted nervously. "What are you doing here?"

Asuka frowned. "What are you _still_ doing here, Third Child?"

"Still doing here?" Shinji echoed. "I live here!"

"Not anymore! You've been dumped for the new model, Third. It makes perfect sense in light of my superior abilities," Asuka bragged. "Though I'd much rather live with Kaji!"

"Asuka…" Hikari said, frowning at the redhead's behavior.

"Hello, everybody!"

The three teenagers turned to see a tired but surprisingly cheerful looking Misato standing in the doorway to the apartment. She turned a slightly chilling grin on Shinji and Asuka. "You two are going to get along real well."

"Huh?" both pilots questioned.

Misato grinned. "The destruction of the next Angel by NERV is top priority," she said, neglecting to mention exactly why she had deemed it so. "Therefore, in light of your lackluster performance against the Seventh, I've decided that the two of you are going to live together to promote teamwork!"

"What?!" Shinji gasped.

"No way!" Asuka protested. "A boy and a girl should not live under the same roof after the age of seven!"

Misato continued to grin, but her grin turned slightly feral. "I'll make this an order if I have to," she said in a dangerously sweet singsong voice.

Hikari cleared her throat, feeling very uncomfortable and awkward. "Uh, I see you've got some…settling in to do. I'll just get out of your way," she said. "Bye, Shinji. Asuka. I'll see you at school tomorrow."

And with that, the class rep beat a hasty retreat, fearing a full scale battle was about to erupt.

"This sucks!" Asuka growled at no one in particular. "I can't even imagine how this day could get any worse!"

Of course, little did she know that without the "winged wonder," Kaji would have finally succeeded in selling that Dance Dance Twister game he'd purchased during college and had been trying to get rid of since graduation.

* * *

Author's Notes: The pacing at the start of this chapter felt somewhat clunky to me, and I found myself fervently wishing that I had put Asuka's first day of school at the end of the last chapter.

Then, as I was nearly ready to put this up, I read the most excellent fight scene in the latest chapter of orionpax09's "Superwomen of Eva: Emerald Fury" and felt inspired to tighten up the action here a bit. So if you liked this fight, he's at least partially responsible. :)

Anyway, here we have Hikari seeing a side of Asuka that she wasn't truly exposed to in the series. I'll be delving deeper into their relationship next chapter, which will probably be fairly brief since Spirit can't possibly do anything to help against the next Angel.

Bissek, I had hoped that it would be obvious that the situation had shifted enough for Hikari to become Spirit. However, I suppose I should have thrown in a line about her panicking and calling the wings. Also, I completely never knew Shinji and Kenshin had the same voice actress. I didn't even know Kenshin had an actress instead of an actor, though I did know that about Shinji. Thanks for telling me.

Kenzie, I figured that Shinji and Asuka never really got a chance to take a good look at the core, except when Asuka was performing the "dental work." And at that point they were looking at the Angel's teeth, not its core.

Zoro, that Hikari would eventually lose control and storm NERV in attempt to join with Adam was something I thought about for some time. I reached a decision a while ago. (What, you're not expecting me to tell, are you? That would ruin the suspense. :P)

As always, thanks to my readers and reviewers.

* * *

Omakes

Infringement!

"…a letter from Hasbro, requesting a meeting to negotiate the rights to produce a line of Spirit action figures?"

Misato's eye twitched. "Why the hell would they ask _us_ about that?"

Ritsuko shrugged. "Who else could they ask? It's not like the girl has her own PR agent. Personally, I'm a little insulted they aren't asking for the rights to make EVA figures."

The Operations Director decided not to tell her friend that Hasbro had already asked about that, but she'd known the Commander would never go for it and had rejected the offer.

"I guess it's just as well, though," Ritsuko continued. "I mean, really, they'd probably make them transform into cars or planes or something and—"

Misato snatched the letter from Hasbro out of Ritsuko's hand, crumpled it up, and threw it into the waste bin. It was surprisingly satisfying.

_One down,_ she thought, then turned to the rest of the paperwork. _Only a zillion or so to go._

Misato never did notice Ritsuko taking the now wrinkled letter out of the trash before she left.

* * *

"Where did you get that?!" Hikari demanded as she saw Nozomi playing with a winged action figure.

"From the toy store," Nozomi answered cheerfully. "It's supposed to be you! Isn't it just the coolest?"

Hikari's eye twitched. Nozomi didn't notice.

"And this is me!" the little girl declared, showing Hikari a smaller doll that Nozomi had taped a mask made out of paper to. "I'm your sidekick, Magical Girl Nozomi!"

A vein in Hikari's forehead started to pulse.

Fortunately for everyone concerned, Kodama chose that moment to enter the room. The eldest Horaki girl immediately noticed that Hikari looked like she was about one second away from exploding. Deciding that she would rather not see her super powered sister erupt, she immediately spoke up.

"Are you all right, Hikari-chan?"

"Who _makes_ these things?!" she snapped, pointing to the Spirit doll.

"Hasbro," Kodama answered nervously. "Dad kind of mentioned how NERV sold them the rights to her…uh, I mean your image."

"What right does NERV have to sell my image?!" Hikari demanded of no one in particular. "They try to capture or kill me on a regular basis! They might even be using the profits from these toys to fund their next plan to trap me!"

Nozomi had apparently not thought about that. She put the Spirit doll down and backed away from it a bit, as though it might bite her or Hikari.

"Hikari-chan, calm down," Kodama urged.

If Hikari heard her older sister, she gave no indication of it. "If I didn't have to keep my identity a secret, I would sue NERV so hard!" she declared.

The teenaged girl suddenly snatched up the Spirit doll. "AND WHY DOES EVERYBODY THINK I'M IN MY TWENTIES AND HAVE AN E-CUP! THAT'S WHAT THEY HAVE THE SHE-HULK FOR!"

* * *

No good deed…

Shinji was still cringing inside as he walked to the Horaki residence, a number of Spirit costumes under his arm. Just the memory of the scene in his Father's office was enough to embarrass and disgust him.

_Maybe I really am a pervert,_ he thought. _Considering the way my parents behaved, I guess it's just in my blood._

Well, at least he'd gotten off the hook and would hopefully never, ever have to be reminded of the incident again.

He knocked on the door to Hikari's home, and the class rep opened it a moment later. "Hello, Shinji," she greeted. "I see that you got my costumes. Arigato. I didn't…"

She trailed off as a Section Two agent joined Shinji on the porch.

"Can I help you?" Shinji asked.

"The Commander asked me to give you this," the man said, handing Shinji a box of condoms and then walking off to a more discreet distance.

_They glow in the dark?!_ Shinji thought as he looked at the package. _How messed up _is_ my Father?!_

"Shinji, why did your Father tell him to give you those?" Hikari demanded.

"Uh, funny story, really," Shinji said, smiling nervously and sweating.

_Thirty seconds later…_

"You told him _what_?!" Hikari shouted.

"It was either that or the truth! I couldn't think up anything else!" Shinji protested. "Gomen nasai!"

Hikari looked like she was going to strangle him for a moment, then composed herself. Rather than kill him, she just calmly took the costumes from Shinji. The Third Child blinked, wondering if he'd somehow managed to escape certain doom.

"You're not going to punish me?" Shinji asked.

"Not right now," Hikari replied innocently.

"Not right now?" he echoed fearfully.

"No," Hikari confirmed. "However, if I were you, I wouldn't be too surprised if I heard a flapping of wings in the near future."

Shinji gulped.

"Good day, Shinji," Hikari said politely, shutting the door in his face.

Chuckling to herself, Hikari went upstairs to put her new costumes away. She had absolutely no intention of going after Shinji as Spirit, but he didn't know that.

Nobody had ever accused the representative of class 2-A of lacking creativity when it came to dispensing punishments.

On his way home, Shinji let out a girlish scream every time he heard a bird flying by.

* * *

Fantasy fulfilled

"Man, I am so smart," a tooth fairy praised herself as she flew through Tokyo-3. "Taking Japan was the best idea I ever had. Belief in me is such a western thing. I'm almost finished and it's not even midnight yet! I only have one more place left to hit!"

She pulled out a list and frowned as she saw the last location on it. _Lakeside in the Geofront? Well, whatever._

Finding an access hatch, she flew down into the enormous cave. It didn't take her long to spot what she was looking for.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me!" she shrieked as she saw the pile of massive teeth under a crude pillow made of tarp.

_Taking Japan was the _worst_ idea I ever had!_ She thought as she got to work.

* * *

_The next day…_

"I wonder why the Commander called us all up to his office," Misato mused as a group of people headed toward the huge doors to the intimidating chamber.

"Your guess is as good as mine," Ritsuko replied.

In addition to the head of Project-E and the Operations Director, the group also consisted of the top three bridge techs, Shinji, and Rei.

They opened the door to the Commander's office and walked in. Fuyutski was standing in his usual place at the Commander's side, but Gendo's chair was facing away from the door, so they couldn't see him.

"You wanted to see us, sir?" Misato asked.

The Commander's chair suddenly spun around, revealing that it wasn't Gendo who sat in it, but Asuka.

"Ah!" Shinji screamed. "Wh-what are you doing in my Father's chair?!"

"It's my chair now, baka!" Asuka gloated. "Commander Ikari resigned and left me in charge of NERV."

"B-but, Asuka—!"

"It's Commander Soryu now!"

Misato shot a pleading look at the Vice Commander, but the old man could only shrug. "It's true, I'm afraid."

"But how?" Ritsuko asked. "How did you get him to resign and make you the new Commander?"

"It was easy! I just gave him a few trillion yen. He was off to Geneva like a bat out of hell. He mentioned something about achieving his ends by buying the Frankenstein estate," Asuka said, clearly not caring what Gendo did with the money.

Rei slapped her forehead.

"But where did you get that much money?" Maya asked.

Asuka just smiled like the Cheshire cat.

"Oh, no," Makoto said as he began to connect the dots. "No way. There's no way _that _could have worked!"

"Well it did!" Asuka retorted. "So now that I'm the Commander, it's time to play everyone's favorite game 'Who wants to keep their job?'"

Asuka pressed a button on her new desk and canned applause burst from unseen speakers.

"Shinji," Rei said softly. "I am…afraid."

"So am I, Rei," Shinji replied somberly. "So am I."


	11. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: Neon Genesis Evangelion is the creation of Anno and Gainax. I don't own it, make no claims to it, and am making no profit from the fan fiction. No infringement of copyright is intended. In other words, please don't sue.

* * *

Chapter Ten

"They tried to nuke you!" Kodama snapped.

"They didn't try to nuke _me_," Hikari sighed in exasperation. "They nuked the Angel. I just happened to be nearby at the time."

"Oh, that makes me feel _so_ much better," Kodama said sarcastically. "You were almost collateral damage!"

"But I'm fine!" Hikari protested. "There's not a scratch on me, and the Angel's dead. It all turned out all right."

Kodama rubbed her eyes, clearly losing patience as quickly as her sister. "Yes, but think about what could have happened if you hadn't seen everyone running away from the area!" she exclaimed. "It hurt the Angel. What would it have done to you?"

Hikari didn't answer, and Kodama sighed. "Why do you do this for NERV, anyway?"

"I don't do it for NERV!" Hikari spat, revolted at the very idea. "If it was just NERV in the line of fire, I wouldn't lift a finger. I do it for Shinji, and Asuka, and Rei, and the everyone in the city when you get down to it. Because if I just left it up to NERV, people could die. _Lots _of people could die! People would probably have died already if I didn't go out and help the Evangelions! If I can save lives, then I have to do it!"

Hikari's impassioned explanation of her motives left Kodama momentarily speechless, and the middle Horaki dared to believe that she'd won the argument.

"…they tried to nuke you!" Kodama snapped, gesturing frantically, as though she thought that Hikari somehow failed to comprehend this fact and she would see the light if only it would sink in.

Hikari's palm met with her forehead. "I'm going to school," she declared. "Have a good day at college, nee-chan. Nozomi-chan, let's go!"

The youngest sister quickly fell in step behind her, and the two left their home before Kodama could articulate another argument (which Hikari strongly suspected would be something along the lines of "They tried to nuke you!").

Nozomi didn't say anything as they walked to school, apparently sensing her older sister's dark mood, something Hikari was grateful for.

It wasn't as though she didn't understand why Kodama reacted the way she did to the tales of Spirit's romps. Goodness knew if Kodama—or, even worse, Nozomi—had suddenly developed super powers and started fighting the Angels, Hikari would have been having fits. Yet even knowing that didn't keep her from getting annoyed when Kodama tried to make her stop, despite Hikari's best efforts to keep her calm.

"All right," Hikari said as they arrived at school. "I'll see you later, Nozomi-chan."

She turned to leave but was stopped when Nozomi refused to release her hand. Hikari turned and gave her sister a questioning look.

"Nee-chan, next time an Angel attacks, please be careful, okay?" Nozomi asked in a whisper.

Blinking in surprise, Hikari just nodded. Nozomi responded by giving her a small smile and heading for the elementary school, having made a far greater impression on Hikari than all of Kodama's shouting.

Nozomi had always been of the belief that Spirit was invincible, or so it had seemed. If the winged heroine's latest battle had freaked even her out…

_I guess my close encounter with an instant sunrise was even more frightening than I believed,_ Hikari thought with a sigh.

Trying to put all these thoughts out of her head for the moment, Hikari made her way to class and sat down in her desk. Sensei arrived a few minutes later.

"Stand! Bow! Sit!"

* * *

Repetition was generally something Gendo Ikari liked. He was, after all, a manipulator, and he admitted to taking a certain amount of perverse pleasure in watching his puppets dance to his tune again and again. Indeed, it was one of the exceedingly few sources of pleasure he had in the bleak, post-Yui world.

As the Human Instrumentality Committee assembled in their holographic meeting chamber, however, déjà vu was not his friend.

"NERV's humiliation was total," Chairman Keel began without preamble. "The Seventh Angel was destroyed by the UN defensive forces and that Spirit girl again. All we have to show for the presence of the Evangelions is a repair bill large enough to bankrupt a small country."

"Fortunately, the censorship of the media is continuing to hold, for the moment at least," Yellow put in. "No one in the general public knows as yet that the N2 mine didn't finish the Angel."

"However, it's only a matter of time before this debacle becomes common knowledge," Red added. "And when it does…"

"The political repercussions will be significant," Green said.

"Therefore, we see no choice but to take action," Blue said. "We are cutting NERV's auxiliary budget by 10 percent, effective immediately."

"And we will have no choice but to cut NERV's budget further if there's another fiasco. You and your organization are on very thin ice, Ikari," Keel concluded.

Gendo's eyes narrowed behind his tinted glasses. It was obvious that the Committee wasn't going to budge on this issue. In fact, judging by how smoothly they'd all explained matters to him, he suspected they'd even rehearsed their little speeches.

Still, he at least had to make some kind of argument. Giving the appearance that he was willing to quietly capitulate to the Committee's decisions would be a fatal mistake.

"You do realize that this will delay the completion of the repairs to Unit Zero, don't you?" Gendo asked.

"Unit Zero has participated in exactly one engagement so far," Red sneered. "I hope you'll excuse us for not viewing its repair as a top priority."

"The rest of this meeting concerns only the Committee, Ikari," Blue spoke up. "As always, your presence has been appreciated."

Gendo nearly snorted a laugh. A lot of lies had been told in the virtual room, but none nearly so blatant as that.

"I suggest you do something about Spirit, Ikari," Chairman Keel said before the Committee vanished with a soft whoosh sound.

Once they were gone, Gendo slammed his fist down onto his desk in frustration, an emotional outburst he never would have allowed another soul to see.

There was painfully little he could do in the short term. Spirit would never fall into another trap baited with the Suzuhara boy, and he was certain that another "random" series of blood tests would be as fruitless as the first.

But then again, Gendo never would have gotten anywhere in life if he could only plan for the short term. The Angel War would go on for some time, he knew, and sooner or later, Spirit's meddling would come to a painful end. Of this he was certain, this he would make sure happened.

* * *

"Hello, Hikari!" Asuka called cheerfully across the schoolyard.

Hikari looked up from where she was sitting with Shinji and Rei and saw the redheaded pilot. The class rep gave the two other EVA pilots a small smile before she got up and walked over to Asuka.

"Good afternoon, Asuka," Hikari greeted much more quietly.

It had been over a week since the Seventh Angel was destroyed, and in that time, Hikari had come to understand the Second Child a bit better.

She had reached the conclusion that Asuka had almost as much of a split personality than she did with Spirit.

Whenever Evangelion was involved, Asuka became this extremely defensive, fire breathing dragon that could lie with righteous indignation. Needless to say, Hikari wasn't very fond of Asuka when she got like this.

Unfortunately for Shinji, being the number two EVA pilot was apparently enough for Asuka to view almost anything that involved him as involving EVA as well. Hikari had observed Asuka being mean to Shinji more than once, and it was the main reason why she'd never invited Asuka to sit with them at lunch.

The rest of the time, however, Hikari tended to enjoy Asuka's company quite a bit. Granted, she was far more forward, more aggressive, and much more likely to tell people _exactly_ what was on her mind than any girl raised in Japan, but (her policy of preemptive strikes against potential perverts aside) she wasn't downright nasty. In fact, she was actually like Spirit in some regards, especially when it came to their fearlessness in letting the men they desired know how they felt.

_Of course, Spirit tends to be a lot more successful than Asuka,_ Hikari was unable to stop the rather catty thought, knowing how Kaji always shrugged off Asuka's advances.

"So, are you all ready for the school trip?" Asuka asked Hikari.

Hikari nodded. "Almost. I plan on being done with packing by tonight," she said. "I can't wait to go to Okinawa!"

_Understatement of the century,_ Hikari mused. With everything that had been going on recently, she was in desperate need of a nice little vacation. Plus it had the added benefit of getting her out of the city for a while, which would be useful if NERV started looking for Spirit in earnest again.

"Me neither!" Asuka agreed. "I've been looking forward to this trip ever since I found out about it."

"I'm actually kind of surprised that NERV is letting you go," Hikari commented.

"It's only for a few days. I'm sure they wouldn't dare put us on permanent standby or anything stupid like that," Asuka said confidently.

"Well, in that case, I was thinking about going clothing shopping with Rei so we could pick up some new swimsuits for the trip and I was hoping that you could come," Hikari said.

Asuka scowled. "Why would I want to go shopping with her? After she snubbed me…"

Hikari shrugged. "It can be difficult to get to know Rei, but she's not a bad person or anything. Just a little…unusual. I was thinking maybe you two could get over starting off on the wrong foot."

"Hmph, I don't see why the Commander's favorite would need to go shopping," Asuka said, crossing her arms.

Hikari frowned. "Commander's favorite?"

"Yeah," Asuka said. "The Commander's her guardian, but not his own son's. It's obvious he likes her best. I'm sure she has a real cushy lifestyle."

"Asuka, I've been to Rei's place a few times to bring her homework to her," Hikari said. "It's a total dump in a very bad part of the city. Honestly, I'm surprised she hasn't been robbed or even worse."

Asuka's preconceived notions about Rei faltered in the face of that knowledge. Hikari could clearly see it on her face.

"Well what do you need me for, anyway?" Asuka asked.

"Oh, I guess we don't _need_ you, but you have such great fashion sense, I'm sure you would be a big help, especially for Rei," Hikari said innocently. "I don't think she would really know what to buy."

Asuka's rather defensive posture relaxed as a smug grin spread over her face. "Hmm, well, I was planning on going shopping with Kaji tomorrow morning, but I guess I can make some time to give Ayanami a hand," she said magnanimously. "Kaji did say he could only stay with me until right after lunch."

"Great!" Hikari said, clasping her hands together. "How about tomorrow afternoon, then? We can meet up with you after Kaji leaves."

"That should work," Asuka said with a grin. "Hey, Hikari, you wanna come sit with me?"

Hikari glanced back toward Shinji and Rei. They had no one else besides her. Asuka, she knew, had an entire pack of fans and admirers. "No, thank you," she said with a slight bow. "I don't want to leave them."

Asuka shrugged. _Her loss,_ she thought.

"All right, see you."

Hikari returned to the table where Shinji and Rei were sitting. Neither one inquired about her conversation with Asuka, so she turned to Rei and asked, "Say, what do you think about going shopping tomorrow?"

Rei blinked, caught by surprise. "That would be…agreeable," she answered, not sounding at all sure.

Hikari grinned.

* * *

Misato Katsuragi was a woman on a mission. Her mission was foolhardy in nature, possibly even reckless, but nevertheless she felt that it was necessary. And failing to do what was necessary was a fault that Misato Katsuragi had never been accused of.

At last she spotted her target loitering around near the bunch of vending machines on the ground floor of headquarters. She grimaced slightly at what she was about to do.

"Hello, Kaji," she called. "I've been looking for you."

As expected, Kaji's eyes lit up at her reluctant declaration and he gave her one of his patented sloppy grins. "Why, I'm delighted to hear you say that, Katsuragi!" he said. "Can I buy you a drink? Or maybe—"

"Cut the crap," Misato snapped, ignoring the treasonous little spark of attraction she felt. "This is business, not pleasure."

Kaji sighed theatrically, then abruptly grabbed the Operations Director and pressed her against the wall. Misato nearly lashed out at him on instinct and only stopped herself when she realized he wasn't trying to kiss her or anything.

"What do you want to know?" he whispered into her ear.

"Why is the brass so intent on killing Spirit?" Misato replied in kind. "I could understand them being a little peeved with her interference, but what happened last battle was far, far too much. Ritsuko's not telling me anything. I was hoping you knew something."

Kaji sighed. "I'm afraid I don't have an answer for you. But I intend to find one."

Misato arched an eyebrow, her suspicions about the "do nothing" NERV agent finally being confirmed with that statement.

"When you do, let me know," she instructed him.

Kaji's grin returned. "And what, my dear lady, will my reward be for acquiring this piece of information?"

"Your reward, Kaji-san?" Misato whispered, her voice taking on a breathy, seductive quality. "Why, your reward will be that you'll get to keep your family jewels."

Kaji, not quite sure how serious he was, was caught between rolling his eyes and shuddering. In the end, he opted to split the difference, sighing. "I see," he said. "Well, I'll let you know if I find anything."

He backed off, and Misato was mortified to see that one of the junior bridge technicians had entered the room at some point and was blinking dumbly at them.

"What are you looking at?" Misato snapped.

"Nothing, Captain!" the tech replied quickly, blushing as he fed his money into one of the machines.

With a huff, Misato stormed out of the room, leaving just Kaji and the tech. The unshaven man grinned. "Don't you just love it when they play hard to get?" he asked.

The tech just made a noncommittal noise in reply, grabbing his can of soda and beating a hasty retreat.

"So, that was fun," Hikari commented as the two of them walked towards Asuka's home laden down with shopping bags, having already dropped off Rei.

"Yeah, it was," Asuka agreed with just a touch of reluctance. "I have to admit that you were right about Ayanami, but something about her still rubs me the wrong way."

Hikari decided not to comment on that, judging that she'd done as much for the sake of harmony amongst the pilots that day as she was going to. Asuka's unflattering beliefs about Ayanami had been broken, and Rei had actually looked rather pleased by the experience, even going so far as to say that their little shopping spree was a "far superior activity" to the trip to the anime convention. Not that that was saying terribly much, but any visible expression of approval from Rei Ayanami was nothing to sneeze at.

"I still say that the swimsuit you bought was too conservative," Asuka commented, restarting their conversation. "After all, this is a school trip, but we won't be in class or anything. You should have gone with that bikini, and believe me, I wouldn't say that if you wouldn't look good in one."

Hikari could easily believe _that_, Asuka not being one to sugarcoat things, but the idea of showing off that much skin was just too embarrassing. She pictured herself in the red and white bikini Asuka had purchased for herself and blushed at the mere thought.

"Thanks, but I prefer the one piece," Hikari replied.

Asuka just shook her head. _I don't get why she's so self-conscious. Her figure's almost as well developed as mine, but you wouldn't know it from the way she dresses most of the time,_ the Second Child thought, lying to herself just a _teensy_ tiny bit about the differences between their bodies.

"Well, I'll see you later," Asuka said as they reached the front door of her apartment building.

The two girls exchanged a brief hug before parting ways, Asuka going into the building and Hikari walking off.

The class rep was nearly a block away when she heard a familiar voice.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN I CAN'T GO ON THE TRIP!" Asuka shouted loud enough for everyone with a 1.3 kilometer radius to hear her.

Hikari winced and hastened her pace away.

* * *

Scuba diving was a more interesting past time in the post-Second Impact world than it had been before that great cataclysm. Back in those golden days, divers hoped to stumble upon the lost city of Atlantis. In the current times, one had to sail far away from the coast to _avoid_ lost cities.

With so much of human civilization lost beneath the tides, diving was an exercise in playing aquatic scavenger. Of course, most of the good stuff had been found and brought back to land years ago, but it still wasn't unheard of for someone to get lucky and find someone's diamonds.

Hikari had no such luck as she examined some of the submerged parts of the Okinawa Prefecture, trying not to recall the battle against the Sixth Angel all the while.

She was about to swim into another submerged house when her diving buddy tapped her on the back, pointing to the gauge on her air tank. She, like Hikari, was starting to run low. Hikari thought they had enough for a little further searching, but she didn't want to worry the other girl. She nodded and the two of them began to head up together.

Once they were above the surface of the water again, Yuki pulled out her mouth piece and took a deep breath. "Find anything?" she asked.

"Nothing interesting," Hikari replied. "Come on, let's head back."

Nodding, Yuki began to breast stroke back to the shore line along with Hikari. With the pilots stuck at Tokyo-3, Hikari had more or less been stuck with Yuki for the trip. They were even sharing a room at the hotel. Fortunately, Yuki wasn't sucking up to her nearly so much as usual, and the girl was actually fairly pleasant company as a result.

Upon reaching the hotel, Yuki went straight to the pool and lounged in a nearby chair. Hikari, however, was still very self-conscious about the abrupt changes her body had undergone following her first transformation into her angelic form. She headed up to their room first to change, donning a light summer dress before heading poolside.

"This is the life, isn't it, Hikari-san?" Yuki commented, stretching languidly.

"Yeah," Hikari agreed.

_No schoolwork, no class rep duties besides having to count heads occasionally, no housework, and no Angels…this really is the life._

Not that she'd want to do this forever; boredom would set in very quickly if Hikari Horaki were ever to live in paradise, she was sure. Still, it was nice having absolutely nothing stressing her out for once and nothing to do besides sit in the sun.

Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted Toji Suzuhara entering the pool area, along with Kensuke Aida.

_Hmm, hold that thought._

As much fun as flirting with Toji as Spirit had proved itself, Hikari had long ago come to realization that she'd probably never get to do it again. After all, what good reason would she ever have to visit Toji in her winged form again? Probably none. Besides, she would definitely prefer that he like Hikari rather than Spirit.

_So go over and talk to him,_ a voice in her mind urged.

Easier said than done, and besides, what would she say to him? Maybe she could keep it simple for the moment, ask him how he was enjoying the trip so far? That seemed doable enough.

She glanced over at Yuki, seeing that the other girl had fallen asleep and was snoring softly. Well, that just meant one less witness if she made a total fool of herself, Hikari decided.

The class rep took a deep breath and got up from her chair, approaching Toji and Kensuke. The two boys looked up as she drew near.

"Hello, Suzuhara," Hikari greeted.

"Uh, hey, class rep."

She heard that same nervousness in his voice, the fear of the class rep, that he might be in trouble. It immediately sapped her courage, robbing her of her ability to ask him the simple question as she'd planned.

She stood there dumbly for several seconds, until it looked like Toji was about to break the silence. That finally got her out of neutral.

"Nothing," she said softly, turning and quickly retreating back to her chair next to Yuki.

Toji blinked. An older and wiser man would have at the very least suspected Hikari's reason for approaching him, but Toji just traded a perplexed look with Kensuke as the class rep walked off.

* * *

That night, Hikari lay in bed, hating the fact that she could sleep for only about four hours at a time. At home she could at least try to keep herself busy, but with Yuki sleeping only a few feet away, that wasn't really an option at the moment.

_Why can I be so bold with him when I'm Spirit but can barely say a thing as Hikari?_ She wondered as she stared at the ceiling. _Does the mask really make _that_ much of a difference?_

Apparently, it did. Hikari sighed softly, turning on her side.

The minutes continued to drag by, and in the lonely darkness of the night, a rather mischievous voice began to whisper at the back of her mind. It urged her to sneak out of the hotel room, obtain the most scandalously revealing bikini she could find, put it on along with her mask, and pay Toji Suzuhara a midnight visit as Spirit.

It was a stupid idea borne from an idle mind and teenage hormones, Hikari knew. She had no clue where she could pick up a bikini at this hour, and her mask was back in Tokyo-3 with the rest of her costume. Besides that, it would be just plain reckless to assume her alternate identity for no good reason, even in Okinawa, far away from NERV.

Still, the idea was surprisingly tempting. Hikari had no doubt that she could utterly reduce Toji's brain to porridge with such a stunt, and she craved the abundant self confidence she possessed as Spirit.

Not least of all because Hikari Horaki's meager courage had failed her that day.

In the end, she managed to resist the temptation, but it was a surprisingly close thing.

* * *

Author's Notes: Poor Hikari, she's going to be as messed up as the pilots by the end of this. (Okay, that's a vicious, vicious lie)

Anyway, no action this chapter, since there was really no feasible way for Spirit to help with the volcano Angel. But fear not, since the giant spider Angel is up next.

I hope my depiction of Asuka is okay so far. I figured she had to be more pleasant with Hikari than we usually saw her, otherwise the class rep wouldn't have been such close friends with her in the series.

KuMardagg, Hikari didn't really know Asuka that well in the last chapter, and she was feeling rather jealous of her as well. However, your point is well taken, and I've stopped using the term.

Pusakuronu, Hikari's ability to sense the Angels isn't as good as that of the Angels themselves. She can pick up the Angels that are all "KILL! SMASH! BURN!" easily, but she needs to be in closer proximity to the more docile Seeds to sense them.

Animefan, I'll definitely at least have a few nods to the other Eva superwomen in the main story, but I haven't decided either way yet on the whether they'll make a larger appearance.

Bissek, as mentioned in this chapter, the general public doesn't know too much, since they're mostly cowering down in the shelters during Angel battles. And SEELE is dealing with military and national leaders, for the moment, anyway.

Kenzie, unfortunately, Hikari's nervousness about approaching Toji means that his presence in this fic will be sporadic at best for a while.

As always, thanks to all my readers and reviewers.

* * *

Omake

I demand snuggles!

Commander Soryu laughed hysterically as she watched the large screen in her office. Renting the set of the game show "Most Extreme Elimination Challenge" for the first round of "Who Wants to Keep Their Job" was definitely one of her better ideas.

She threw back her head and utterly _howled_ with laughter as she watched Rei take a rather painful looking tumble off the giant rollers and into the moat of dirty water beneath her.

"You know, Asuka-chan, you are doing an utterly brilliant job of commanding NERV so far," Kaji commented.

"Why thank you, Kaji!" Asuka replied in a chipper voice, turning to look over at the object of her adoration.

The unshaven man was currently going through a large filing cabinet containing the mother lode of secret NERV documents, trying to decide what to give to SEELE and what to send to the JDA.

"Well, I think I have everything I'll be needing for the moment," he said, picking up several folders. "If you'll excuse me, Commander…"

"Not so fast, Agent Kaji!" Asuka snapped. "I have an order for you!"

Kaji swallowed. "Of course," he said, forcing a grin. "Anything for you, Commander."

"I order you to cuddle with me!" Asuka demanded imperiously.

"_Again?!_"

Asuka just got out of her chair and pointed at it. Sighing softly, Kaji went and sat down. Asuka then sat on his lap, throwing her arms around his neck and nuzzling against him. Kaji rolled his eyes.

The new Commander frowned after a few seconds. "Whisper sweet nothings to me. That's an order!"

Holding back a groan, Kaji did as he was ordered, already starting to miss the good old days.


	12. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: Neon Genesis Evangelion is the creation of Anno and Gainax. I don't own it, make no claims to it, and am making no profit from the fan fiction. No infringement of copyright is intended. In other words, please don't sue.

* * *

Chapter Eleven

"And then I realized that the reason the Angel's core was standing up to the progressive knife was because the heat was distending the Angel's molecular structure!" Asuka bragged. "So I cut my coolant hoses, shoved it into the monster's mouth, and then was able to use the prog knife to kill the Angel!"

"Brilliant," Hikari said.

"Yeah, I guess it was," Asuka said, all but buffing her fingernails against the front of her dress.

"Then what happened?" Hikari asked.

Asuka's level of enthusiasm with the story visibly dropped a few notches. "Then my cables began to go and the D-type armor started to collapse under the pressure," she said. "I thought I was done for, but Shinji jumped in and grabbed me."

The Second Child quickly plowed ahead before Hikari could comment. "I'm sure Misato ordered him to save me. After all, it just makes sense that my survival and the survival of Unit Two would be high priorities, since I'm the top pilot and have the best EVA."

Hikari just nodded and held her peace. Ironically, Asuka's version of the battle included more of Shinji's heroics than Shinji's own telling of it. In _his_ version, Unit One's jump into the lava was almost totally glossed over and he apparently did little more than throw his progressive knife down to her.

It was only when Rei told the story that Shinji sent Unit One plunging into the lava _against_ Misato's orders and saved Asuka. And while the First Child hadn't actually been there, Hikari somehow suspected that Rei's story was the most accurate depiction of events.

"So, Shinji mentioned something about going to a hot springs resort afterwards," Hikari prompted.

"Yeah," Asuka said with a grin. "It was really nice. You wouldn't think a hot bath would be enjoyable after going magma diving, but it was great! Of course, after missing the trip to Okinawa, not to mention killing the Angel, I naturally deserved a little R and R."

Hikari just nodded, letting Asuka go on. She had a feeling that it would be better just to let the Second Child get all the EVA related news out of her system than to try and steer her to a different topic.

She had been surprised, to say the least, to discover that NERV had fought an Angel during the school trip. At first, Hikari had felt terrible about how the pilots had had to face the Angel without her because she felt the need for a vacation. Then she'd gotten the details of the engagement and realized she couldn't have done a thing even if she had stayed home, which had dispelled her guilt.

Spirit was not immune to lava, after all.

"So, how did you manage to remember your physics lessons in the middle of a battle?" Hikari asked.

Asuka flinched slightly before regaining her composure. "Oh, you know, it just came to me. I _did_ graduate from college, after all," she said dismissively.

Somehow Hikari suspected that there was more to it than that, but she decided not to press.

Which was probably better for everyone concerned.

* * *

"So, I've heard that the Committee agreed to restore the auxiliary budget back to its former levels in the wake of the last battle," Kaji commented.

"Indeed," Gendo replied. "The old men had to be reminded of a fact that's been plain since the Fifth Angel: Spirit is incapable of defeating all of the Angels. Keeping NERV adequately funded is essential to the continued survival of the human species."

Kaji allowed a very small smirk to appear on his face. Gendo just stared back at him in way of reply.

The two men might have seemed like complete opposites, but there was one thing they had in common: they were both experts at hiding their emotions. At the moment, Kaji couldn't help but be somewhat intimidated by "the lair" but didn't show it. By the same token, Gendo was mildly annoyed that his cavernous office wasn't visibly throwing Kaji off balance but didn't show it.

A conversation between the two had almost as many subtexts as Gendo's meetings with the Human Instrumentality Committee.

"Yes, that young lady came from quite far out of left field," Kaji commented. "If I may be so bold, sir, I feel I should warn you that the Committee's patience is growing increasingly thin on that issue."

"The old men can moan and complain all they like," Gendo replied. "They will not be so quick to cut NERV's budget again, thanks to this reminder of Spirit's limitations."

"Hmm, yes," Kaji agreed. "Yet despite this, you seem to be awfully interested in neutralizing her."

It was an obvious attempt to get Gendo talking on the subject of the winged girl and they both knew it, but extreme subtlety wasn't really necessary. Kaji knew that Gendo was far too clever to be goaded into revealing information he wanted to keep to himself by a few well chosen words. If he wanted SEELE to know something he couldn't say in a more official setting, he would tell Kaji, with only a relatively minimal amount of the necessary dancing around the subject.

"Her interference has cost NERV valuable credibility and could easily prove disastrous," Gendo replied curtly.

_In other words, you're not going to tell me why you're going after her so fiercely,_ Kaji thought. _Well, Misato won't be pleased._

Not that Misato's request was the sole reason that he was seeing how talkative Gendo was feeling (though he had to admit that he really was _very_ attached to his "family jewels").

No, he had his own reasons for interest in Spirit. Prior to her first very public appearance, Gendo had felt that he held all the cards. Oh, SEELE was working on changing that, to be sure, but there was little they could do that wouldn't ultimately be expected.

Then a massive wild card had entered in the form of the winged girl, and Gendo had started getting antsy, which interested Kaji.

Besides, the spy loved wild cards on principle. They kept the game interesting.

"Yes, I quite agree, we can't have a rogue running about," Kaji said, deciding he wasn't going to get anything of use from Gendo that day. "Good day, Commander."

Gendo didn't bother replying as Kaji left the huge office.

* * *

Several calm weeks passed, a sharp contrast to the turbulent period brought about by the last three Angels striking in fairly rapid succession.

At NERV, the repairs to Units One and Two were completed, though Unit Zero still lagged behind. The full armor replacement needed by the prototype Evangelion had been delayed twice already, but it was finally nearing operational status again.

For Hikari, things proceeded more or less normally. School proceeded in its regular way, nothing even the least bit out of the ordinary happening until the parent-teacher meetings drew near.

Hikari wasn't at all sure whether her father would be able to make the meeting, not with his increasingly erratic and demanding work schedule. She, like a lot of her classmates, had become what people were starting to refer to as "NERV orphans." It was a small issue, however, as Hikari wasn't among the students who were praying that their parents wouldn't be able to make the meeting.

Then, one bright and sunny day, Hikari again sensed the approach of an Angel.

The familiar feeling that one of the would-be destroyers of Tokyo-3 manifested itself near the end of the school day, and, as usual, Hikari had to struggle to avoid appearing as nervous as she felt.

At last, after an impossibly long last period, the final bell rang, releasing the students from another school day.

"Another after school harmonics test," Asuka grumbled as everyone headed out into the hallway. "I don't believe it. There's no need for even half as many tests as they do!"

"I guess they're just being careful," Hikari said, resisting the urge to go sprinting out of the classroom.

"Or paranoid," Asuka countered.

Hikari didn't reply , though she did make a mental note that the pilots would probably be in NERV already by the time the alert sounded. Whether or not that was a good thing, Hikari wasn't entirely sure, but she hoped it was.

Saying a quick good-bye to the pilots, she headed over to the elementary school to find Nozomi. Having a job to do as Spirit didn't change the fact that she still had responsibilities as Hikari, after all.

"Hey, nee-chan," Nozomi greeted as Hikari came into view.

"Hello, Nozomi-chan," Hikari said. "Let's go."

Nozomi arched an eyebrow, and after saying a quick good-bye to one of her friends, hurried off after Hikari.

"So what's wrong?" Nozomi asked softly, after they had walked far enough from the school to get away from the mass of students outside.

"What makes you think something's wrong?" Hikari replied.

"You haven't asked me how my day at school was, I can see that you're tense, and you're walking so quickly that I have to jog to keep up with you," Nozomi listed off without skipping a beat, apparently having expected the question.

Wincing slightly, Hikari slowed her pace, silently chastising herself for thinking she could fool Nozomi. Her act _might_ have been good enough to keep her friends from noticing her nervousness, but her all too clever younger sister knew her far too well.

"Oh," was the only reply Hikari made.

"Yeah. So, what's up? Something happen at school? Boy problems? Or…" Nozomi's voice dropped to a whisper, "an Angel?"

"An Angel," Hikari whispered back. "I want to get you home before the sirens go off."

Nozomi's eyes widened, the girl seemingly caught between excitement and worry for her sister. "Do you think it'll happen soon?"

"Probably not before we can get home," Hikari answered. "It hasn't been that long since I sensed it, and they usually don't sound the alarm until a decent while after that."

Nozomi didn't need Hikari to explain who "they" were, and the two sisters walked in silence for a few blocks.

They were standing at a corner, waiting for the light to change when it happened. The stoplights abruptly went dead, and the cars in the street paused, their drivers confused and nervous.

Hikari blinked. "A power failure?" she muttered.

"Isn't that supposed to be impossible here?" Nozomi asked. "My teacher rambles all the time about how Tokyo-3 is this wonderful 'city of tomorrow.'"

She said the last bit in a very mocking sort of tone.

"I think you're right," Hikari said, vaguely recalling hearing something to that effect when their family had moved to Tokyo-3. "The lights didn't even flicker during that incredible electrical storm last month…"

"So what does this mean?" Nozomi asked.

"Trouble, I bet," Hikari sighed, then added in a whisper. "I don't think NERV can launch the Evangelions without power."

"Then let's run home," Nozomi said.

Hikari nodded, and the two broke into a sprint.

* * *

While the younger two Horaki sisters were running through the streets above ground, the EVA pilots were venturing into the labyrinthine bowels of Tokyo-3, hoping to make their way to NERV headquarters.

Whether or not they would actually succeed in this endeavor was anyone's guess, however. Asuka, the member of the trio who had been in Tokyo-3 the shortest period of time and thus was least familiar with the city, had more or less proclaimed herself leader of their little band. It was only because Rei had spoken up and corrected her that they'd managed to make it to access route seven, the first leg of their journey.

"Say, can I ask you something, Rei?" Asuka asked as they made their way through the dim tunnels.

"You just did," Rei pointed out in her usual flat voice.

Shinji was unable to hold back a tiny snicker at that and Asuka's eye twitched. The Second Child decided to let that one pass, though, having seen firsthand how literal Rei could when she went shopping with her.

_I still can't believe she asked why she'd want to murder anyone when I told her she'd "knock 'em dead" with the swimsuit I picked out for her,_ Asuka thought.

"Why do you tolerate living in that run down apartment of yours?" Asuka asked.

"It was the living space I was assigned to by the Commander," Rei answered.

"I know that!" Asuka said impatiently. "But why do you put up with it? You're an EVA pilot, for god's sake! You could demand better living conditions!"

"What for?" Rei asked, looking genuinely curious.

"What for?" Asuka echoed, gaping. "So you won't have to live in a dangerous, broken down hell hole! That's what for!"

"I do not see the need to relocate," Rei said. "My current dwelling is sufficient for my needs, and Section Two provides adequate security."

Asuka's evaluation of the First Child shifted again with that statement. Before she'd thought that Rei was just weird. Now she realized that Ayanami was genuinely screwed up. Anyone who simply didn't get why an EVA pilot—someone who was responsible for _saving the world_—shouldn't get better living arrangements than a broken down dump had to be messed up. For that matter, so did anyone who thought that the gang of rent-a-cops collectively known as Section Two could provide adequate security for a steak at a vegetarians' convention.

Asuka wondered who was responsible for Rei's state of mind.

"Tell me, First, have you ever had any other guardian besides Commander Ikari?" Asuka asked.

"No," Rei answered.

"Asuka, I'm not sure this is the time for this," Shinji spoke up timidly.

"Oh, stuff it, Third," Asuka snapped. "What else are we supposed to do besides talk as we walk around in the dark?"

Shinji shut up.

"I don't suppose anything…traumatic ever happened during your early childhood?" Asuka probed.

_Before or after my first incarnation died?_ Rei wondered but knew better than to even think about asking aloud.

"No," Rei answered.

"How often did you get to associate with other children during your early years?" Asuka asked.

"Not until I entered public school," Rei answered.

"And when was that?" Asuka asked.

"Approximately two years ago," Rei said.

_She was kept away from other kids until she was 12,_ Asuka thought grimly. _The lack of socialization, and being raised by Commander Iceblock…no wonder she's so screwed up._

The whole thing reeked of _intentionally_ screwing up Rei, too. It couldn't just be incompetent parenting or laziness on Commander Ikari's part. After all, keeping a child away from all other children took considerable effort. One would have to home school the child in question, could never send to her day care, and would either have to deal with her constantly or find other adults without children who were willing to babysit. It would be quite a task, especially on top of running a place like NERV Central.

_But what the hell was the Commander trying to achieve?_ Asuka wondered. _Was he trying to mold Rei into…what? The perfect pilot?_

She shook her head, rejecting the idea. Rei sat solidly at the bottom of the totem pole so far as piloting ability went, her sync ratio surpassed by even Shinji, the newcomer to EVA. The Commander would have had access to Asuka's progress reports with Unit Two while she was training at the Third Branch, and he would have known that any plans to shape Rei into the top pilot weren't succeeding.

So what had his aim been? What had he been trying to make Rei?

Asuka abruptly recalled footage of Operation Yashima that she'd seen while back in Germany. The way Unit Zero dove in front of the Angel's particle beam and had just _stayed there_, even as the shield gave out and the EVA's armor melted…it had struck her as equal parts incredible and horrifying.

_The perfectly _obedient_ pilot_. _That's what the Commander wanted to make Rei into…and it looks like he succeeded, too,_ Asuka thought grimly, feeling a swell of pity for the First Child. _Thank Gott nobody manipulated _my_ childhood._

Down in the Geofront, Gendo snickered softly for a moment, then frowned, wondering what had brought that on.

* * *

Kodama Horaki scowled as she regarded the lab equipment she'd spread out over the kitchen table, knowing much of it was utterly useless until the power back came on. Her homework was on the verge of overwhelming her, as it was wont to do despite how hard she worked, and she had planned on getting some of it done that afternoon. But she couldn't start most of it until the power came back on.

With a sigh, she took out one of her textbooks, deciding to work on an essay she had to do, even though it wasn't due for a while and she hated writing essays.

So she was confused but not exactly distressed when she was interrupted before she began, as Hikari burst into the kitchen. The middle Horaki sister was panting heavily as she walked in, carrying Nozomi on her back.

"How did you two get back here so quickly?" Kodama asked. "Your school didn't let out that long ago and the trains aren't running with the blackout."

"Ran," Hikari gasped out, crouching down so Nozomi could drop to the floor.

Kodama blinked. "The whole way?"

Hikari was too busy getting herself a glass of water to answer, so Nozomi did it for her. "Almost. We started running when the power went out. We were only a few blocks away from school at the time. But I got tired eventually, and she had to carry me," she explained, sounding sheepish as she added the last part.

"But why did you run?" Kodama asked.

"An Angel's coming," Hikari explained, placing her now empty drinking glass in the sink. "I had to get Nozomi home before I could go out as Spirit."

Kodama blinked, not sure whether she was more surprised at her sister's announcement or how quickly she'd apparently recovered from her exhaustion. She wondered if it was the superpowers or the fact that she was fourteen that allowed her to do that.

"…I see," Kodama got out.

"Take care of Nozomi," Hikari said. "You may have to evacuate. I'm not sure if the order will go out or not."

With that, Hikari rushed upstairs to change, carrying her school bag.

Once she was gone, Nozomi turned to her eldest sister. "So…how's _your_ day going?"

* * *

Spirit soared through the skies over Tokyo-3, enjoying the feeling of freedom it always provided, despite the seriousness of the task before her. Flying was like a balm upon her soul, soothing all her anxieties. All her worries just seemed to evaporate when she flew.

…well, except for the ones caused by the enormous arachnid currently walking through Tokyo-3.

"That's the newest Angel?" she said to herself as it came into view. "Ew, gross!"

Spirit wasn't any more fond of bugs than most girls, and the Ninth Angel resembled nothing so much as a super-sized daddy long legs. Its four huge legs towered over most of the city's skyscrapers, but its central body was relatively small, not much larger than a pair of large trucks.

"At least its not hairy or anything," Spirit mused with a small shudder, hovering in place as she studied her foe.

The Angel _did_ have a bunch of eyes, however. But those eyes weren't the kind you typically saw on insects. They were strange yellow and blue things that seemed to be all over its central body.

"No visible core," she observed. "Guess that means playing exterminator's going to be that much harder."

Spreading her wings as far as they would go with an audible snap, Spirit flew down toward the Angel, spreading her AT field. The Angel immediately ceased its casual advance toward NERV, its multitude of eyes turning in her direction.

Light began to form in Spirit's palm as she readied a cross blast, continuing her descent toward the Angel. _I'll bet the core's inside its body. I'll just have to blast it to pieces._

Several of the Angel's eyes suddenly spewed out some kind of brown liquid, sending a spray of large globules of the stuff flying through the air at her! Spirit let out a cry of surprise and turned sharply to the left to try and avoid it.

She wasn't entirely successful, and a small amount of the stuff landed on her bare leg. Spirit let out a cry of pain as she felt the liquid start eating away at her flesh, but she refused to allow herself to lose control of her flight. Clenching her teeth against the agony, she ducked behind one of Tokyo-3's skyscrapers for cover and sat down on a convenient ledge to examine her wound.

A sizeable chunk of her right calf was missing, a thin trail of smoke rising from the wound as what was left of the acid continued to dissolve part of her body. The sight caused her to be seized by the need to get what remained of the horrid stuff off of her that instant, and she foolishly tried to wipe it off with her hand.

"Ow!" she groaned as the skin covering her fingers began to dissolve.

This was followed by a sudden urge to put her inflamed fingers in her mouth, but she clamped down hard on _that_ reflex.

Fortunately, the acid had dissolved what parts of her it was going to, and her incredible healing ability kicked in the moment it had expended itself, erasing her wounds in mere seconds.

_Okay, this situation is _not_ good,_ she thought, getting to her feet.

Against all the previous Angels, she'd been able to use her speed and relatively tiny size to avoid their attacks with ease. But this Angel had neutralized that advantage; she couldn't dodge the hundreds of droplets of acid it could spray at her nearly as easily as she could avoid its siblings' attacks.

A sharp, acrid smell suddenly filled her nostrils and her eyes widened as she realized what it had to mean.

_It's using its acid on the other side of this building!_

She immediately took off again, flying around the side of her makeshift barrier to see that she had been correct. Most of the side of the building that had had to bear the Angel's assault looked melted from the abuse, and great clouds of chemical smoke were rising up into the air from it.

The instant it spied her, the Angel ceased its attack on the helpless skyscraper and fired off another blast of acid. Spirit was ready for it this time, however, and launched herself into a power dive. Not daring to fly directly at it, she followed a route that would take her within several hundred meters of one of the sides of it.

It was as quickly as she could possibly fly, and it was just a bit too fast for the Angel's acid spray to hit her. But if she slowed down even a little, the deadly liquid would no doubt get her. Fortunately, it didn't seem to be figuring out that it should aim for where she was going, rather than where she was.

Spirit was incredibly conscious of all the property damage the Angel was causing as it tried to hit her, creating a trail of acid right behind her, which promptly ate through metal, concrete, and glass with equal fervor.

_Whew, if they ever figure out who I am and demand I pay for this, I'm sunk!_ She thought with a twitch of humor before turning her full attention to her foe.

_Gotta time this just right…_

The instant she was level with the Angel's central body, Spirit fired a cross blast right at it. The burst of light struck the Angel perfectly in its side, and the massive arachnid went staggering as a chunk of its body was vaporized by the energy attack. Its impossibly long legs went sliding, kicking craters into the sides of buildings and crushing cars as it tried frantically to regain its footing.

Spirit didn't bother to watch the effects of her attack. When she was only a handful of meters away from the pavement, she changed the position of her wings and abruptly shot upwards, all her momentum being converted into taking her skyward again.

It was a good thing, too, because the Angel resumed its attacks on her mere seconds later, shooting acid from its remaining eyes. With a sigh of frustration, Spirit took cover behind another building before gravity could slow her to the point that she became an easier target.

_Just like I was afraid of. I can't destroy the thing with one hit,_ she thought.

She'd never managed to destroy an Angel's core with only one cross blast. It had always taken at least two. And she wasn't even sure where this Angel's core was exactly.

Hoping against hope that it didn't have the miraculous healing ability she and all the other Angels had had, Spirit lowered her AT field and carefully flew over to the side of the building, landing on a ledge where she could see the Angel from.

She was disappointed but unsurprised to see that the Angel was already regenerating the part of its body she'd blown away.

"Damn," Spirit cursed, wondering what she could do now.

Her musing were cut off by the distant screeching of tires, and she snapped her gaze downward just in time to see a car slamming into the Angel's AT field, the wall of orange light flashing for a second as the vehicle hit it. The Angel's eyes all shifted to look at the little metal nuisance, and Spirit groaned as she realized what she had to do.

She spread her AT field again, instantly regaining the Angel's attention and saving the people in the now ruined car from its wrath. Spirit let out a squeak and took to the skies once more, only mere centimeters ahead of the new spray of acid it shot out at her.

_Damn, damn, damn! I guess the JSDF didn't manage to get out the word to everyone about evacuating with their little flyover,_ she thought, recalling the plane she'd spotted on her way to the battle that had been announcing the Angel's presence.

She dove behind another building, noting with annoyance that a drop of acid had landed on the heel of one of her shoes, eating away part of it.

Spirit didn't waste time observing the damage to her footwear for long, keenly aware of the fact that the driver of the car and any passengers he might have were undoubtedly still close enough to the Angel to be in serious danger.

She broke cover, firing another cross blast the moment she got a clear shot, but her target wasn't the Angel's central body this time; it was one of its legs. The energy blast sliced cleanly through the massive but fairly thin appendage, and what looked like more of that acid began to gush out of the severed limb. The Angel staggered, thrown badly off balance. Its aim had been thrown off as well, and the acid it had shot at her when she'd emerged again missed by a mile.

Seizing her chance, Spirit flew down toward the street, easily spotting two figures fleeing from the destroyed car as she did. Flying low, she seized them both by the collars and then took off away from the Angel, hearing both the people she'd rescue yell with surprise and fright as they were lifted off the ground.

"Gomen," Spirit said, "but I wasn't sure I had time to ask if you were afraid of flying."

"Hey! You're her! Spirit!" cried a young voice.

Spirit looked down at the two people she'd pulled out of the warzone, a man and a young girl, and for bizarre moment believed that she'd rescued Toji and Mariko Suzuhara _again_.

Then the moment passed. The man she was carrying had to be at least thirty, she realized, and while the girl was roughly the same age as Mari, her skin and hair were both several shades lighter than the Suzuhara girl's.

"Yes, that's me. You know, you really shouldn't be out right now. Forecast predicts Angels, with a 100 percent chance of acid rain. Bad weather for driving," Spirit quipped, flippant in a way Hikari could never be.

"I, uh, didn't know," the man replied sheepishly.

Spirit grinned. "I guess that's understandable, since the sirens never went off. I'm just glad I was here and you only lost your car."

"I-Indeed," the man stuttered, not quite able to believe what was happening. "Arigato."

"You're welcome!" the winged girl replied cheerfully.

Judging she was far enough away from the battle, Spirit put them down on the ground, waved jauntily, and then flew off toward the Angel again.

By the time she had rejoined the battle, the spider-like beast was standing steady on its feet again, all four of them. Spirit noted with some surprise that rather than regenerate the severed part of the injured leg, the Angel had grown a new one right next to the one she'd cut.

Before she had time to ponder this development, it noticed her and sent another barrage of acid her way. Spirit took cover behind another building.

_I need to end this, _now, Spirit thought. _The evacuation obviously wasn't complete, and the longer this goes on, the better the chance of somebody getting killed. Plus, I'm getting really sick of that damn acid!_

Deciding to try something, the winged girl brought her hands together, then invoked the feeling of power as strongly as she had when she did the double cross blast against the Seventh Angel. But a double cross blast wasn't what she was hoping for.

Light formed between her hands, and Spirit broke cover, flying directly at the Angel. As she'd expected, it immediately turned its multitude of eyes at her and spat more of its acid in her direction. The deadly liquid flew straight at her, but the winged heroine didn't alter her flight path.

"Take this!" Spirit roared, releasing the built up energy.

A blast that was like a cross blast but not like a cross blast erupted from her hands. The energy attack had a ring of energy around the top, and the arms which sprouted from it from it looked like blazing wings.

A certain NERV technician who enjoyed comic books too much would later christen the attack the "Halo Wave."

The blast vaporized the deadly acid that was heading for Spirit effortlessly, and then slammed into the Angel's central body. Two thirds of it simply ceased to exist, burned away by the sheer destructive power of the white inferno.

What remained of the Angel fell to the ground, its legs going limp and no longer holding it up. Spirit sighed with relief as she felt the tingling at the back of her mind that the Angels caused vanish.

"I guess that's another one down," she said, panting slightly as she hovered by the defeated Angel's corpse.

* * *

"We're going up again," Shinji noted as the pilots continued their trek through the tunnels. "Are you sure we're going the right way?"

"Of course I'm sure!" Asuka snapped irritably.

Shinji decided to refrain from pointing out that Asuka had been sure multiple times and had only succeeded in getting them lost and turned around each time.

The Second Child had vacillated strangely between taking Rei's advice one moment and then outright rejecting it the next because she was suddenly "sure" she knew where they were going. Her behavior puzzled Shinji, but that wasn't exactly a new thing.

"Ah," Asuka said, spying one of the armored access doors. "This has _got_ to be the Geofront this time!"

She opened the lock and then kicked the door open…then nearly fell to the ground as she saw the massive form of the Ninth Angel.

"Take this!" a girl's voice cried.

Blinding white light filled the pilots' vision, and now Asuka did fall down, tumbling backwards, her legs kicking up into the air for a brief moment as she landed. She quickly regained her feet, blinking spots out of her dazzled eyes.

"I guess that's another one down," the same voice from before said, now full of weary triumph and relief.

Asuka stepped outside the tunnel, onto the street, and looked up. Her eyes widened when she saw the familiar winged girl hovering not far away.

"You!" the Second Child snarled.

Spirit actually flinched at the molten glare Asuka directed at her. The super heroine's mouth opened and closed several times before she seemed to give up on saying anything to the Second Child and flew off, soon disappearing from sight.

Asuka looked at the dead Angel for several seconds, never moving. Then she balled her hands into fists and began to visibly shake with rage.

"Asuka…" Shinji said, hoping to avert the inevitable explosion.

He gave up after that, though, realizing it was a lost cause. Though he would later tell himself it had just been his imagination playing tricks on him, at the moment, he swore that he could detect the scent of brimstone emanating from Asuka.

The Second Child drew in a deep breath. Shinji took a few steps back. Rei calmly covered her ears.

It was said that all of Tokyo-3 heard Asuka's scream that day.

* * *

"Where have you been?" Ritsuko demanded the instant she saw the pilots casually stroll into the command center. "There's an Angel out there! We've had Units One and Two ready for manual launch for over an hour!"

"There's no need to launch the EVA's," Shinji said, sounding weary.

"The Angel has already been destroyed," Rei agreed.

"What? How?" Ritsuko demanded.

"I'll give you three guesses, and the first two don't count," Asuka growled, crossing her arms.

Fuyutski sighed. "I suppose it's not much of a surprise that she beat us to this one," he grumbled. "After all, it's not like the blackout would inhibit her."

"Prepare to launch the EVA's!" Gendo commanded, shouting to make himself heard by the technical crews. He turned to the pilots. "We're moving out."

"What? But why?" Asuka asked. "We just told you that the Angel's dead!"

Shinji's eyes narrowed. "You're going to tell everyone that NERV killed this Angel, aren't you?" he asked. "But no one will buy it if the EVA's never leave their cages, so you're making us take them outside for the sake of appearances."

Gendo's eyebrows rose a few fractions of a centimeter, actually slightly impressed with his son for once. _So, the boy does have a functioning brain. He can even use it when he stops focusing on his petty problems for two seconds._

"Correct," he replied, the look on his face daring Shinji to object.

The Third Child didn't rise to the challenge. Instead he sighed and headed for the locker rooms, so he could change into his plug suit. "Come on," he said to Asuka, "let's get this over with."

"This is so stupid," Asuka grumbled as she followed him.

"Sir," Rei said, turning to Gendo. "My EVA is still inoperable. What should I do?"

"You may go, Rei."

Rei nodded and left without another word.

"Ikari, do you really believe we can get away with this?" Fuyutski asked softly once all the pilots were gone.

"SEELE will undoubtedly find out somehow, but they will be able to prove nothing," Gendo replied. "The lower level personnel will be kept in the dark, and all we'll need to do is doctor the recordings taken by the devices within the plugs."

"That's a dangerous move, Ikari," Fuyutski cautioned.

Gendo pushed her glasses up his nose. "This entire game is dangerous, Sensei."

* * *

Author's notes: Much as I knew the Eighth Angel was going to be all NERV's as soon as I thought up this story, the Ninth Angel was always going to be all Spirit's. The massive amount of property damage, however, was something I honestly didn't see coming until I wrote this chapter. Oh well, Tokyo-3 recovered from worse in the series.

Dennisud, mathematically, there would be no more Spirits around. As noted in the prologue, the odds of someone being affected by the Angel DNA are about one in 500,000, and there's roughly that many people in Tokyo-3. Hikari was the only one affected.

NefCanuck, remember, this is set in NGE, and one of the major themes of the show was the breakdown of human communication. Since I'm trying to remain as faithful to the show as I can while still making it comic bookish, having Hikari simply telling Toji how she feels isn't an option. At least not without lots of needless angsting about it first.

Zoro, Hikari's understandably reluctant to become Spirit for anything short of an Angel attack, since she knows NERV is out to get her, so no running around Tokyo-3 at night fighting crime for her, unfortunately.

Ryousanki, I will neither confirm nor deny the fact that Silver Surfer Rei will make a cameo at some point in the future. :P

Bigdave, I did consider making this fic a Shinji/Hikari for a little while, but I ultimately decided against it. Hikari liked Toji in the show, and I'm trying to stay as loyal to the show as possible. Besides, I kind of doubt that anyone who liked Toji would become attracted to Shinji, who's almost Toji's polar opposite in many ways.

As always, thanks to all my readers and reviewers.

* * *

Omakes

Difference Between Dangerous and Stupid

"That's a dangerous move, Ikari," Fuyutski cautioned.

Gendo pushed her glasses up his nose. "This entire game is dangerous, Sensei."

Fuyutski watched as Gendo loaded a single bullet into a pistol and then pointed the gun at his own head.

"I realize that Russian Roulette is supposed to be dangerous, but don't you think that playing it with an automatic is a tad foolhardy?" Fuyutski asked.

Gendo just glared at him. Fuyutski sighed, wondering how he could best redecorate and rearrange Gendo's huge office to fit his needs.

* * *

Something's Not Right Here…

"Take that, you dastardly fiend!" Spirit shouted, slamming a fist into the NERV-bot with all her superhuman strength.

**POW!**

"Golly, you sure showed him!" commented her sidekick, Magical Girl Nozomi, as she watched the shattered robot fall to the ground.

"Unfortunately, some foes simply cannot be reasoned with," Spirit replied, dusting off her hands. "Now, come, Magical Girl Nozomi! We must make haste to Tokyo-3! I fear what's happened in our absence!"

"Right!"

The two heroines hurried onwards, not stopping until they'd reached the peak of the mountain and were granted a bird's eye view of Tokyo-3. Both gasped when they saw the city.

"Holy iceblock, Spirit!" Magical Girl Nozomi exclaimed. "The entire city's frozen!"

And indeed it was. At least a foot of clear ice covered everything within the valley where Tokyo-3 was situated. The entire city had been turned into a frozen hell despite the scorching heat that was usually present all year round.

Spirit clenched her fists. "No, Magical Girl Nozomi, not _holy_ iceblock. _Commander_ Iceblock! This is undoubtedly that villain's work!"

Magical Girl Nozomi grimaced. "Holy hostages, Spirit! Commander Iceblock's probably got Suzuhara-kun in there somewhere! We have to save him!"

"No," Spirit said, holding her sidekick back. "Not yet at any rate. Charging in there is exactly what Commander Iceblock wants us to do. We need to regroup and form a plan of attack! Quick! To the Spirit Sanctum!"

* * *

Hikari jerked awake suddenly, her brain apparently unable or unwilling to dream up the "Spirit Sanctum."

"Ugh," she groaned. "That was so weird! That's it! No more eating leftover pizza at midnight! And no more killing time at night by watching subtitled re-runs of the Adam West Batman series! Man, we get some really shows on TV here!"


	13. Chapter 12

Disclaimer: Neon Genesis Evangelion is the creation of Anno and Gainax. I don't own it, make no claims to it, and am making no profit from the fan fiction. No infringement of copyright is intended. In other words, please don't sue.

* * *

Chapter Twelve

"This was a really good idea, Hikari," Shinji commented as he cut up a daikon radish.

"I just felt that Misato deserved a little congratulations after getting her promotion. It can't be easy having so much responsibility in a place like NERV," Hikari said modestly, as she stirred her soup. "Besides, after that little fainting spell, I'm sure she could use something to get her mind off her worries for a bit."

Shinji nodded, a worried look on his face. "Ritsuko's supposed to perform a whole battery of tests on her tomorrow evening. She's trying to hide it, but I know she's worried."

"Misato's strong. I'm sure it's nothing she can't overcome," Hikari said, trying to put the pilot at ease.

Shinji nodded. "How did you notice Misato's new rank insignia, anyway?" he asked, changing the topic. "Me and Asuka are around her a lot more than you are, but you were the only one of us to spot it."

Hikari shrugged. "I just noticed it looked different and asked why. That's all."

"So where's Asuka?" Shinji asked. "She isn't planning on skipping the party, is she?"

"Of course not," Hikari replied. "She went over to Rei's place to get her. She said something about dragging her here kicking and screaming if she had to."

Shinji tried to imagine a hysterical Rei resisting every step of the way as Asuka dragged her to the Katsuragi apartment and found he couldn't quite do it. "That's nice of her...I think," he said. "She's been a lot kinder to Rei ever since we had to go through all those tunnels to reach the Geofront."

"How have things between you and Asuka been?" Hikari asked.

"All right, I guess," Shinji shrugged.

Hikari held back a sigh of annoyance. Shinji never liked to talk about himself much, and while she could understand his reluctance, as she didn't like to talk about herself either, it didn't make the task of helping the poor boy any easier. That went doubly when it came to Asuka; Hikari had been able to help a little in getting her to be more friendly with Rei, but so far as Shinji went, Hikari had made roughly zero progress so far as she could tell.

Not that the Third Child wasn't a good bit more cheerful than he had once been, which was quite heartening.

"Has she, um, calmed down about the recent battle yet?" Hikari asked.

The class rep had known something was up when Asuka had told her about the latest battle. The Second Child claimed to have gotten the kill herself, but there was a distinct lack of her usual gusto as she gave Hikari the false rundown. Shinji had outright refused to say anything about the recent. Only Rei, who of course knew that Hikari already knew what had really happened, was willing to explain to her that NERV planned on taking responsibility for the victory.

Of course, since Shinji didn't know she knew this, she had to be careful when inquiring about Asuka's recent sour mood.

_All this double life stuff can get very confusing,_ Hikari thought with a mental sigh.

"Yeah," Shinji replied, relief clear in his voice. He had been on the receiving end of several of Asuka's venting sessions, mostly because the Second Child couldn't go to Hikari. "I think she's looking toward the next Angel now."

The two finished making dinner and went to lay it out, after which Shinji set the table. For once, the Third Child didn't hesitate to grab a can of beer for Misato. The party _was_ for her, after all.

"There," Shinji said, "now all we need—"

As if summonsed by the thought, a tired looking Misato opened the door to her apartment and walked in. She blinked as she took in the feast that was laid out on her table.

"Surprise!" Hikari exclaimed, with Shinji echoing her a second later.

"What's this all about?" Misato asked.

"We decided to have a little party to celebrate your promotion," Shinji explained, looking just a little sheepish, as if tooting his own horn even this tiny bit embarrassed him. "Asuka's out getting Rei. As soon as they arrive, we can start."

"Oh! This is so sweet of you!" Misato gushed.

The purple haired officer grabbed Shinji and embraced him in a crushing hug, which, thanks to the height difference, had the effect of burying his face in her ample bust. Hikari looked away, blushing slightly at the display.

"And thank you, too, Hikari!" Misato added after she'd released Shinji, not hugging the class rep as well, much to her relief. "I'm going to change out of this uniform and then I'll be right back."

Misato disappeared into her bedroom, and Hikari sat down at the table to wait.

"Wark!"

The class rep looked down and smiled at the sight of Pen-Pen, picking him up and placing him on her lap. Every time she looked at the water fowl, something about the penguin caused a five-year-old Hikari inside her mind to start jumping up and down, shouting "Kawaii!" over and over again.

Pen-Pen seemed to realize this and always appeared when Hikari was around, eager to be petted.

Suddenly, the door to the apartment swung open again and Asuka entered, practically pushing in Rei. The First Child wasn't in her school uniform for once, wearing one of the few outfits that she had purchased during her trip to the mall with Asuka and Hikari prior to the school trip to Okinawa. Hikari suspected that Asuka had cajoled Rei into changing out of her school uniform before coming over.

"Hullo!" Asuka greeted cheerfully.

"Hello," Rei echoed, much more softly.

"Hi," Hikari said with a smile. "Misato just got home. As soon as she finishes changing, we can start."

"Is Kaji here yet?" Asuka asked eagerly.

"No, he hasn't shown up yet," Shinji answered.

Asuka pouted and sat down at the table, and Rei silently took a seat next to her. Misato emerged a moment later, much more casually dressed. "Hey, Rei. Asuka," she sat down at the head of the table. "This looks really good!"

"Hikari's a better cook than I am," Shinji said with a small smile.

"Well, she must be really great, then," Misato said with a grin. "Okay, let's dig in!"

The group proceeded to do so, and relative silence reigned for several minutes in the apartment as everyone busied themselves with the food. It wasn't until the chime of the electronic doorbell sounded that everyone looked up.

"That's gotta be Kaji!" Asuka exclaimed excitedly.

Her face fell, however, when the door opened and everyone saw that the unshaven man wasn't alone. A blond woman that Hikari guessed was Ritsuko Akagi was with him.

"I came directly from headquarters, we just happen to meet on the way," Kaji said with a grin.

"A likely story!" Asuka and Misato snapped in perfect synch.

"You're not jealous, are you?" Ritsuko teased.

"Hmph! Of course not," Misato grumbled sourly.

Kaji smirked suddenly. "Well, Shinji, I hope you don't mind that I decided to show up."

"Huh? Why would I mind?" Shinji asked, clearly confused.

The spy's smirk widened. "Why, because you're no longer the sole island of masculinity in a sea of beautiful girls, of course!"

Shinji blushed furiously, while Asuka released a bark of laughter. "An 'island of masculinity?' Him? Don't make me laugh!"

The Third Child gave the Second a scowl but didn't say anything, not wanting to ruin the party by starting an argument. Hikari also directed a scolding look at Asuka, who just shrugged in response.

Kaji turned his attention back to Misato and gave her a formal bow. "I'd like to give you my sincerest regards, Major Katsuragi," he said, then straightened and dropped the serious facade. "I suppose I'll have to be polite to you from now on."

"And just what does that mean?" Misato somehow managed to ask even as she continued to drink her beer.

"Well, you know how the Commanders have never both left Japan at the same time before," Kaji said. "I guess they must feel that old Katsuragi is really dependable."

"My father's left Japan again?" Shinji asked.

"Yes," Ritsuko replied. "He's at the South Pole. Personally, I think he went there to escape the heat from the Committee. From what I understand, they're rather dubious about the report on the latest Angel battle."

* * *

"Ikari has been feeding us nothing but damned lies for months!" SEELE-11 shouted. "We cannot continue to tolerate these deceptions!"

The council member's words echoed through the virtual meeting room, the place where the twelve most powerful men in the world conferred, hiding their identities like the lowliest of criminals behind holographic monoliths.

"There is little doubt in the matter that Ikari has been distorting the truth," SEELE-03 agreed in a much calmer tone.

"Unfortunately, we have a lack of proof," SEELE-09 pointed out. "The reports of a handful of people who weren't evacuated and saw part of the battle doesn't constitute indisputable evidence."

"Do you really believe that Ikari was telling the truth when he said that Units One and Two destroyed the Angel?" SEELE-11 snapped incredulously. "Without incurring any damage in the process?"

"Of course not," SEELE-09 scoffed. "But I think you are forgetting how skilled a player Ikari is. Thanks to the fact that our man inside NERV spent the entire power failure trapped inside an elevator, we will never be able to prove he lied to us."

"Why do we need to prove anything?" SEELE-07 asked. "Ikari answers to _us_. We can merely replace him."

"This is why I think you forget how dangerous Ikari is!" SEELE-09 snapped. "He is not some simple pencil pusher we can dismiss at our leisure. He controls NERV Central, which possesses Lilith and all the functional Evangelions, including Unit One! He will soon control the Lance as well! All essential elements of the scenario!"

"Indeed," SEELE-04 spoke up softly. "If he were to self-destruct NERV headquarters, everything we have worked so long for would go up with the compound."

"Besides," SEELE-02 said, "odious though Ikari's actions may be, they are not reason to believe that he is trying to alter the scenario. Merely that he is having difficulty dealing with the anomaly and trying to cover it up."

"Such incompetence cannot be tolerated," SEELE-11 growled.

"Ikari is many things, but incompetent is _not_ one of them," SEELE-12 said. "I doubt that anyone could have stopped the girl, if he has not been able to."

"She cannot be allowed to run free! Her interference with the scenario could be ruinous!" SEELE-11 protested.

What followed was an old fashioned shouting match between the members of SEELE, as they screamed potential solutions, arguments, or just plain insults at one another.

"Enough," SEELE-01 spoke up at last, and all the other members fell silent at once to listen to their leader. "Ikari's actions are troubling, but at the moment we control nothing but the purse strings. And public opinion restricts our ability to even use that control."

"So what shall we do?" asked SEELE-11.

"For the moment will shall wait and watch," SEELE-01 said. "If Ikari's deceptions prove to be more than simply cover ups for his fumbling…well, there shall be a great reckoning when it comes time for us to play our trump cards."

* * *

"So, did you have fun tonight, Rei?" Hikari asked as she and the blue haired girl headed for the train station after the party.

"Yes," Rei replied, actually sounding rather surprised by this fact.

Hikari smiled. "Good."

The two girls reached the train station and got in line for tickets back to their respective parts of the city. As they waited, Hikari couldn't help but think about Rei's decrepit apartment in the bad part of the city. That she had to live there was really nothing short of criminal, the class rep mused, especially considering that Rei's guardian was the most powerful man in Tokyo-3.

"Say, Rei, why don't you come over to my place tonight?" Hikari asked impulsively. "You could sleepover."

Rei looked at her silently for a long time, until Hikari felt sure she was going to refuse.

"That would be agreeable," Rei said at last, surprising the class rep. "Will your sisters not complain about you inviting guests, however?"

Hikari smiled. "No, it'll be fine. They've learned not to bite the hand that cooks for them."

Rei made no reply to this, and the two girls both boarded the train bound for Hikari's part of the city. Roughly twenty minutes later, they were entering the Horaki home. Inside the kitchen, they found Nozomi seated at the kitchen table, eating pizza and reading what looked like a tabloid magazine, the kind that were commonly found by the checkout lines in grocery stores.

"It's impolite to read at the table, Nozomi-chan," Hikari chided. "Especially that kind of rubbish."

Nozomi didn't bother looking up at first. "But I was here all by myself, nee-chan!" she protested. "And I don't normally read this sort of stuff, but you're in it! See?"

She spun around, holding the magazine open to a two page story with the headline "Superwomen of Tokyo-3" displayed at the top in gaudy yellow letters. There was a picture of Spirit, that Silver Surfer girl that had made a brief appearance at their school some time ago, and a girl in dark clothing whose head was a horned skull wreathed in flame that the magazine labeled the "Ghost Rider."

A second after she'd turned around, Nozomi blanched, realizing that her sister wasn't alone. She hadn't heard the blue haired girl at all, but Nozomi had managed to notice her in time to see her start at the sight of the magazine. She paled, realizing what she had just done.

"It's okay, Nozomi-chan," Hikari said, noting the look of horror on her younger sister's face. "Rei already knows that I'm Spirit. She was the one who warned me about the blood test, actually."

"You were? Arigato!" Nozomi exclaimed, putting her magazine down and abruptly hugging Rei around the waist.

The First Child's eyes widened at the unfamiliar display of emotion and gratitude. She gingerly placed her hands on the girl's shoulders, wondering what the warm feeling that had appeared in her chest was.

"You are…welcome," Rei said, her voice slow and uncertain in this unusual situation.

"What's all this about?" a curious voice asked.

They all turned to see that Kodama had entered the kitchen while Nozomi was hugging the Eva pilot.

"She's the one who warned Hikari about the blood tests," Nozomi explained, disengaging herself from Rei.

"Oh!" Kodama said. The eldest Horaki sister smiled and bowed formally to Rei. "You have our thanks, then. This family would really be lost without Hikari."

"Yeah! Without her, we'd have to eat Kodama's cooking!" Nozomi piped up with a mock shudder at the prospect.

"Nozomi," Kodama and Hikari scolded simultaneously, though Hikari couldn't help but smile slightly, remembering what she'd said to Rei back at the station.

The youngest sister held up her hands in a placating gesture. "I was just kidding, sheesh."

"Oh! Where are my manners?" Hikari scolded herself. "Rei, these are my sisters, Nozomi and Kodama. And this is Rei Ayanami. She's my friend and an EVA pilot. I invited her to spend the night."

Kodama nodded. "Have fun, then. If you'll excuse me, I have things to do."

* * *

Several hours, numerous failed attempts at teaching Rei the fine art of gossiping, and a dozen or so rounds of Wing Annihilator on the Sega Genesis (the First Child proved to be frighteningly good at this) later, the class rep and the Eva pilot finally retired to bed.

Hikari, who was quite pleased with the events of that day and eager to get what little rest she could, was soon sleeping softly. Rei, however, lay awake for a good long time.

_Such gratitude,_ Rei thought to herself. _I have never had so much directed at me. I did not even warn Hikari for her own sake. I did it for Ikari-kun. Yet their gratitude still made me feel…good, even despite the fact that I knew it to be misplaced._

The blue haired girl turned over. Her eyes, long since adjusted to the dark, swept across the dim room. Hikari's bedroom contained far more decorations and objects than her apartment did. Not long ago, Rei would have viewed all of it as having no purpose, and thus utterly pointless, not worth whatever effort Hikari had expended to acquire such objects.

Now, however…

_They are…personal touches. Marks that this place belongs to her, as she belongs here. Hikari clearly belongs here in a way that is more…profound than the way I belong at my apartment,_ Rei thought, frowning slightly as her mind grappled with the rather abstract concepts.

_Is it because of her sisters that she belongs here?_ Rei wondered. _I believe it is._

Releasing a tiny sigh, Rei rolled onto her back and closed her eyes, determined to sleep. It was unusual for her rest schedule to be interrupted in any way, and she wanted to deviate from it as little as possible.

_I…wish to belong somewhere, as she belongs here with her sisters,_ was her last thought as she finally drifted into sleep.

* * *

Several days (and one extraordinarily painful night) later, Hikari again sensed the coming of an Angel near the end of the school day. Much like last time, the moment school let out, Hikari collected Nozomi as quickly as she could and the two were heading home.

"I hope there's no blackout or anything this time," Hikari said as they headed toward the train station.

Nozomi nodded, then frowned a moment later, cocking her head to the side slightly. "What's that?"

"I don't know," Hikari said. "I hear something, but I'm not sure…"

She trailed off as a massive _fleet_ of transport helicopters came into view above them. "Your attention please!" blared from loudspeakers in several of the aircraft. "The government has issued a special D-17 order! All civilians within fifty kilometers of Tokyo-3 are to be evacuated! Please proceed to the designated pickup zones to be transported via government helicopter!"

"You had to say something and jinx it, didn't you?" Nozomi asked flatly.

"Oh, can it," Hikari grumbled irritably. "At least the trains will still be running. Come on."

The two rushed home as quickly as they were able, which wasn't very fast. The train station was in chaos as people frantically tried to either get to the evac points or reunite with loved ones before fleeing the city.

They did eventually make it back, and only mere moments after Kodama arrived as well.

"Take care of Nozomi, nee-chan," Hikari said in a rush, already on her way to her bedroom to change. "I have to go. I'll try and find you two after—"

"Hold it," Kodama ordered sternly, causing Hikari to stop short. "They were evacuating people at the college, and guess what I found out?"

"What?" Hikari asked impatiently.

"That they're keeping track of who's evacuating _very_ closely," Kodama said, crossing her arms. "I strongly suspect that NERV is hoping that a girl between the ages of, oh say, thirteen and sixteen stays behind for unexplained reasons."

Hikari winced. "You mean…?"

"Yeah," Kodama nodded. "You have to come with us and be counted, otherwise NERV will probably find out who you are. You can try and fly back after they've gotten us to wherever we're evacuating to, but…"

"It'll probably take hours. The battle will probably be over by then," Hikari groaned, pinching the bridge of her nose. She sighed. "Looks like NERV will have to handle this one without Spirit."

Neither Nozomi nor Kodama showed it, but both were extremely relieved that Spirit would be sitting this one out. The declaration of a D-17 meant that this latest Angel had to be _really_ dangerous, and their father was just a bit too high up in the NERV hierarchy to evacuate with them. The idea of potentially losing him and Hikari at once was far too horrible to even contemplate.

* * *

Hours later, the teenagers who were arguably the three most important people in the entire world stood outside of—

"A ramen place?" Misato asked, blinking in confusion.

"Well, we know that you're too poor to pay for the steak dinner you promised us. This'll be just fine," Asuka said. "And this way Rei can join us, too."

Asuka's actions spoke louder than her rather harsh choice of words, and Misato smiled at the unexpected act of kindness as they ordered their food.

"You're awfully cheerful," the Operations Director commented as they went to sit down.

"Well, why shouldn't I be?" Asuka asked. "It's not everyday we beat one in 10,000 odds, and we got to kill another Angel without the winged wonder butting in."

_Really, the only thing that would have made it better is if I'd caught the Angel instead of Shinji,_ Asuka thought. _And I still need to pay the Third back for saving me at the volcano. Oh well, I'm sure I'll be able to later._

Misato decided not to ruin the moment by saying that they should be grateful for Spirit's help. She knew Asuka would never listen anyway, so why bother?

"Arigato."

Misato and Asuka turned to look at the source of the quiet word of thanks, which just happened to be the First Child. They both gave her a curious glance.

"Thank you for including me," Rei said softly.

Misato smiled. "You're welcome, Rei! After all the hard work you've put in for NERV, a night out is the least you deserve!"

_Wow, I don't think I've ever heard Rei thank anyone before,_ Misato mused.

Rei gave Misato and Asuka a small smile before turning back to her meal. _Is this what it feels like to belong?_

Shinji, meanwhile, just gazed silently into his bowl of noodles, as if he expected to see the solutions to the great mysteries of the universe within it. _Father praised me and called me by my name, but…_

Gendo had done so much to him, and Shinji was growing more and more his father had some kind of dark designs for NERV and EVA as time went on. As good as hearing his father congratulate him had been, Shinji was afraid to trust the man.

_Why does everything have to be so confusing?_ He wondered forlornly as he finally started on his noodles.

* * *

Author's Notes: Observant fans of the Superwomen of Eva series will note that in "Emerald Fury" Misato passes out, gets her checkup from Ritsuko, and transforms for the first time all in the course of one day. Thus, there wouldn't be time for a celebration for her in between these events. However, the idea of Hikari throwing Misato a party not long before She-Hulk beats the ever-loving snot out of Spirit amused me for some reason. Besides, no matter how many nods and cameos the SOE fics do with each other, I doubt that it'll be possible for them to all perfectly match up, so I went with it.

Now, as bissek pointed out in his review, the next few Angels are not exactly the kind that Spirit can really fight. But fear not, dear readers, while we are in a relative lull, there won't be three action-free chapters in a row by any means. And once we get to the Thirteenth Angel, things should really start heating up.

Ryousanki, the acid spray is really nothing compared to what happened when the Twelfth Angel just swallowed a chunk of the city. _That's_ when you really have to feel bad for those poor slobs.

Konous the grey, I think the only ramification is that it's now obvious I don't proof-read the omakes as thoroughly as I do the rest of the story. :)

Pusakuronu, that would require the non-EVA forces of NERV to be useful, and we can't have that. Seriously, though, even as pissed at Spirit as Gendo is, any Angel around is still top priority. So if Asuka's available to neutralize Spirit's AT field, he can just send Unit Two after her.

Reform Jones, I love you, too. Seriously, though, Hikari's got a huge crush on a different guy, and her friendship with Shinji is at least partially based on pity. Not great conditions for romance to blossom. As for Shinji showing he has a brain, don't forget that he is the son of two very bright people. He's just so self-absorbed most of time he often doesn't use said brain.

As always, thanks to all my readers and reviewers.

* * *

Omake

Envy

"Oh my god! Hikari-chan, I can't believe that you actually fought that spider thing!" Kodama shouted. "You should have just flown away when it was shooting _deadly acid_ at you!"

Hikari sighed. Kodama hadn't said much about her battle against the spider Angel…until she actually gone to the part of the city that the battle had happened in and seen the melted buildings. Then she'd started up with throwing the usual fit and lecturing her.

"Nee-chan, it all turned out fine! Besides, I couldn't just run away! NERV couldn't launch the EVA's! I was the only one who could stop it!" Hikari protested.

"_Deadly acid!_" Kodama shouted.

Hikari groaned and just left Kodama rant on. As if everything else she had to put up with wasn't bad enough, it seemed that she had to get lectured and shouted at after every battle.

She tried to just grin and bear it, she really did, but there came a point at which even Hikari's patience was expended.

"Stop it already! Just stop!" Hikari snapped, finally losing her temper. "_I know you're just giving me a hard time because you're jealous that I have bigger boobs than you now!_"

Kodama felt silent immediately, her lower lip quivering as she crossed her arms over her chest. She, unlike Hikari but like all the other Horaki women, was not exactly gifted in that regard.

"You don't have to rub in!" Kodama sobbed as she turned and ran from the room. "Stupid angelic transformation!"

Hikari blinked stupidly as her older sister retreated. She'd had no idea that Kodama had felt that way, and even less of a clue as to what had made her lob that accusation at her.

"Too far, nee-chan," said Nozomi, who'd been silently watching the whole exchange. "Too far."


	14. Chapter 13

Disclaimer: Neon Genesis Evangelion is the creation of Anno and Gainax. I don't own it, make no claims to it, and am making no profit from the fan fiction. No infringement of copyright is intended. In other words, please don't sue.

* * *

Chapter Thirteen

"Hikari, can I ask you a question?" Shinji asked.

Hikari looked up and considered pointing out to him that he just had. It was something she'd done to Nozomi a lot when they were a little bit younger. She soon thought the better of it, however. Shinji looked very serious, and she noticed that he'd chosen a moment when the two were relatively alone. Asuka was busy giving her fan club the play-by-play of the last battle (in which she gave _every_ detail of how she'd stabbed the Angel's core, while barely mentioning that Unit One had caught it), and Rei was at NERV for some kind of tests. It was just the two of them at their usual table, something she felt sure he was aware of.

"Of course, Shinji," she said.

"What's your father like?"

She paused, the question catching her by surprise. Shinji misread her hesitation and quickly added, "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to. It's—"

"No, it's all right," Hikari interrupted. "Dad's…he's a good man. He works long, chaotic hours at NERV these days, so we don't see him much. But my sisters and I know he loves us. He's always been willing to stand up for us if we ever needed him to."

She paused, collecting her thoughts. "He really loved our mother, too. I think a part of him died with her. He hasn't been out on a date since she passed away. He sort of became overprotective of us afterwards. I think it's because my sisters and I are all he has left of her."

Shinji's mind flashed back to that terrible day of ten years ago, remembering the hot tears streaming down his face as he stood and watched his own father's retreating back in horrified disbelief. Why had Hikari's father responded to the death of his wife by clutching more tightly to his children while his own father had reacted to the same thing by doing just the opposite?

"Why did you want to know?" Hikari asked. "If you don't mind my asking that is."

"I don't know," Shinji said with a sigh. "After the last battle, my father called me by my name and praised me. It's the first time he's ever done either since we were…separated."

Hikari's eyebrows rose. "Shinji…I can understand wanting to be closer to your father, but after everything he's done to you…"

_Then again, I might be a little biased, considering all the times your father's tried to have me captured or killed,_ Hikari thought.

The boy sighed again. "I guess you're right," Shinji said. "My father has been up to some pretty shady seeming things, and I still don't know why he hates Spirit so much. But it felt so good when he praised me…"

"You shouldn't need your father's praise to feel proud about what you've done," Hikari said gently. "After all, I'm sure you've saved a lot of people by piloting the EVA."

Shinji nodded. He wasn't at all sure sure that he was capable of dismissing his desire to hear his father praise him, but he had to admit that her words made sense.

"Thanks, Hikari," he said with a soft smile.

* * *

"Captain Chiron, your report," Gendo asked the Chief of Section Two as the man entered the Commander's cavernous office.

"The attempts to discover Spirit's identity by seeking a girl of the appropriate age that failed to evacuate were not successful," Chiron said. "I take full responsibility for this failure, sir."

"No," Gendo said. "It would have been impossible to keep track of the people boarding the helicopters without informing them and still evacuate the city in a timely manner."

"And we can't even be sure that was the reason she decided to sit out this battle was because of your efforts," Fuyutski added.

Gendo nodded in agreement, then felt silent for a moment as a truly terrible idea struck him. What if Spirit could somehow predict the strength of the Angels and had sat out the last battle because she had known that the Tenth would simply be too much for her?

Recalling how Spirit had nearly been killed by the Fifth Angel, he soon discarded the idea and calmed down. Gendo silently chastised himself for giving the Spirit in his mind powers she had never been observed having. To see his opponents as some invincible boogeymen (or boogeywomen, as the case might be), would not help him at all.

Spirit was just another player in the game. An unexpected and powerful player, yes, but she was far from invincible.

"Sir?" Chiron spoke up as the silence went on.

"You are dismissed, Captain," Gendo said.

Chiron saluted and made his way out of the office.

"You're taking this awfully well," Fuyutski commented once the Section Two Chief had left.

He remembered only too well the reckless and expensive trap Gendo had set for Spirit. The Commander of NERV hadn't shown it back then, but Fuyutski had known he was absolutely fuming at the time.

Gendo smirked slightly. "It is because I have absolute faith that Spirit's meddling will be removed by the time of the completion of the scenario."

Fuyutski arched an eyebrow, knowing that Gendo never had faith in anything without a very good reason. He was about to ask his former student to elaborate on his curious statement but then thought the better of it. The less one knew about EVA and the Angels and NERV, the better off one was.

He had learned that lesson the hard way.

* * *

"There, butt naked and sent through the wash seventeen times, just like you asked!" Asuka snapped irritably as the three EVA pilots finally emerged from what was essentially a human car wash, each still in their own separate stalls.

"Good," came the disembodied voice of Dr. Akagi from unseen speakers. "Now, we need you to walk down the hallway and get inside the simulation plugs."

"WHAT?!" Asuka shrieked. "You can't be serious! This is so embarrassing!"

"Don't worry, Asuka," Ritsuko replied. "We've turned off the visual feed. We do respect your privacy, you know."

"Oh, I'm sure," Asuka said sarcastically, crossing her arms.

"Asuka, this is an order," came Misato's voice.

The Second Child growled softly but didn't quite dare to talk back to her commanding officer.

Shinji cleared his throat. "I'll, uh, I'll go first," he stammered. "That is if you promise not to look."

"As if there was anything to look at," Asuka grumbled.

"We promise, Ikari-kun," Rei said.

"Right," Shinji said. "Uh, I'm going now."

Asuka rolled her eyes, but she then shut them to give him his privacy. She soon heard him scampering down the hallway, followed by the hiss of his simulation plug's hatch opening and then closing again. The Second Child opened her eyes and then she and Rei headed for their own plugs. Seconds later, the plugs had been inserted into the headless simulation bodies.

"How does it feel?" Akagi asked once the test had begun.

"It is different," Rei responded.

"It's weird," Asuka said. "The right arm feels normal but everything else is fuzzy."

Akagi had them move the simulation bodies about as best they could for a few minutes before telling them to get settled in. The test would take three hours.

Asuka sighed. _What a pain. All this nonsense for a stupid autopilot system._

**I could disrupt the test if you wish,**a voice spoke up in her mind. **Corrupting the data would be child's play for one such as I. Their little project would never reach fruition.**

_Don't bother,_ Asuka replied. _They'll never need to use it with my Unit Two, and no autopilot could hope to compete with me, so what's the point? Now keep quiet, or they might detect you._

Back in the pribnow box's control room, Maya frowned as she observed the readings coming in through the EVA's. "That strange variation in her brainwave pattern is back, sempai," she said.

"How bad is it?" Ritsuko asked, moving to look over her protégé's shoulder.

"It shouldn't interfere with the data recordings," Maya said. "The variation was very minor and was detectable for only a moment."

"I'd still like to know what's causing it, though," Misato murmured.

"I really wouldn't worry about it," Ritsuko advised. "It's been present for a while now and nothing—"

She was interrupted by an ominous groaning coming from above them. It sounded like metal creaking as it buckled under pressure, and it filled Ritsuko with quiet anxiety.

"What was that?" Ritsuko asked. "Another water leak?"

"No, there's corrosion on the level above us," Maya answered.

"Will it disrupt the test?" Ritsuko asked.

"Not at present," Maya replied.

The blond scientist nodded. "Then let's continue. We can't easily restart this test," she smirked and added, "Commander Ikari would chew my ass off if I aborted it unnecessarily!"

Any chuckles her joke might have elicited were cut off when klaxons suddenly began blaring throughout the base, red light flooding the control box as "ALERT" warning flashed everywhere.

"What's happening?!" Ritsuko demanded.

"The corrosion is spreading explosively!" Maya exclaimed. "They've cut off the pipelines in Sigma Unit but it still isn't stopping! It's spreading from wall to wall!"

"Ready the polysomes!" Ritsuko ordered.

Maya rushed to comply, her hands blurring as she frantically typed in commands at her keyboard. A few seconds later, several doors in the water filled chamber that contained the simulation bodies opened up and a number of robots armed with lasers swam out.

"Get ready to blast the contaminant the moment it gets here, whatever it is," Ritsuko ordered grimly.

"Hai," Maya said, her finger hovering over the button.

Several tense seconds passed as they waited for their strange new foe to manifest itself. It didn't happen at all as they expected.

"Rei's simulation body is moving!" Maya exclaimed.

"No, that's impossible!" Ritsuko replied.

Impossible or not, it was happening. A massive hand slapped against the bullet-proof glass of the control box with enough force to crack it.

"Fire the laser!" Ritsuko ordered.

Maya complied, and the polysomes fired their weapons, easily slicing off the arm of Rei's unarmored simulation body.

"Blue pattern detected!" Maya shouted. "It's an Angel!"

"Eject the plugs!" Ritsuko barked. "Get the pilots to safety! Do it now!"

"Roger!" Maya said, typing in the appropriate commands.

A moment later, the simulation plugs shot out of the dummy bodies and went rocketing into the Geofront.

* * *

_This is torture,_ Hikari thought to herself as she worked on preparing dinner, thankful for the fact that she was so used to cooking that she could do it on auto-pilot.

She had sensed the presence of a new Angel in the middle of the school day and had been waiting for the sirens to go off for hours now but to no avail. The city's emergency alert system had remained stubbornly silent.

_It's never taken this long after I sensed an Angel for NERV to find out about it,_ she thought.

What made her even more anxious was the fact that she sensed the Angel was below her, which meant it was inside the Geofront. Had the Angel somehow managed to bypass the city and its defenses and get directly down there? And if so, had the Commander not sounded the alarm because he wanted to keep Spirit oblivious so NERV could handle it alone? Or perhaps NERV didn't even know about the Angel?

Or had NERV set up another elaborate trap for her, somehow creating a fake Angel to lure her into their territory?

"All right, what's wrong?" Nozomi asked, looking up from her homework, which was spread across the kitchen table.

"Nothing," Hikari answered at once.

"Is that why you put one of your textbooks in the oven instead of the fish?" Nozomi asked in a very off-handed manner.

"Eep!" Hikari squeaked, and quickly saved the slightly roasted book.

_Okay, maybe I can't cook dinner without thinking about it,_ Hikari thought.

"So, what's up? Another Angel?" Nozomi asked once the book had stopped smoking.

She sounded far too casual about an Angel showing up, in Hikari's opinion, and the older girl silently wondered if Nozomi was again starting to believe that Spirit was invincible.

"I think so," Hikari said slowly. "Down in the Geofront."

"Then why aren't you going?" Nozomi asked.

"Kodama won't be back from classes for another couple of hours…" Hikari said uncertainly.

Nozomi's brow twitched. "A couple hours? The world could be over in a couple hours! I'll be fine by myself for a little while. I am eleven, after all," she said importantly. "And I can look after all the food you've got going. I'm not Kodama, after all."

Hikari couldn't help but smirk slightly at the last bit, but she soon grew serious again. Part of her was loathe to seem to give into Nozomi's argument, not to mention venturing down into the Geofront, the self-sufficient colony that NERV ruled absolutely. On the other hand, though, just sitting around while she could sense an Angel and running through all the "what-if's" was driving her completely crazy.

_I guess I could just…investigate,_ she thought as she put the fish into the oven. _I'll just take a quick look around, and if there's nothing out of the ordinary, I'll head back._ _So long as I'm careful, I should be all right even if NERV's set up another one of those crazy AT field neutralization zones._

"All right," Hikari said, "I'll go. Now, while I'm gone, I want you to remember to stir the soup. Take the fish out of the oven when the timer goes off, and don't forget to use a pot holder or oven mitts. And—"

"Nee-chan, I've watched you do this a million times," Nozomi interrupted. "I can handle it."

"Really? Then maybe I should have _you_ do all the cooking around here from now on," Hikari said, smiling dangerously.

"Heh, heh, gomen," Nozomi said, visibly sweating.

Hikari smirked and headed upstairs to change into her costume.

* * *

"This is so stupid," Asuka grumbled as she sat inside one of three plugs that were sitting on the ground inside the Geofront, more or less abandoned while NERV dealt with the Eleventh Angel. "I'm an EVA pilot! Hell, I'm the _best_ EVA pilot! I shouldn't have to deal with this crap!"

**Being forced to tolerate such nonsense is far beneath you,** Zarathos oozed in agreement.

Asuka rolled her eyes, by now accustomed to the way the demon in her mind often buttered her up to keep its host happy.

**Really, you should head back into NERV and give them a piece of your mind…at least,** the demon added, always eager to go after the top brass at NERV, most of whom were irredeemably stained with sin.

The Second Child smirked wickedly Zarathos's anger and ruthlessness infected her. The fact that she was naked didn't seem to matter nearly so much as it had a moment ago. Now all that was really important was giving that phony blonde an earful.

Silently thanking whoever designed the plugs for including independent power sources, Asuka pushed the button to open the hatch and climbed out, LCL dripping off of her and onto the dirt ground. She grimaced as she felt small rocks and twigs biting into the soft soles of her feet.

_Akagi won't be able to hear properly for a week by the time I'm done yelling at her,_ Asuka thought as her anger continued to build, absently closing the plug hatch again out of habit.

Tip-toeing along in a largely futile effort to avoid hurting her feet further, the Second Child started making her way back to headquarters, in search of clothing and revenge, in that order. She grumbled softly to herself about the multitude of stupid things and people she had to put up with on a daily basis as she walked.

The quiet flapping sound that reached her ears caused her to abruptly cease her complaints and snap her head upward. Her blue eyes widened at what she saw.

_Spirit! What the hell is _she_ doing down here?_ Asuka mentally snarled.

Zarathos was silent for once.

Asuka watched Spirit silently for a while. There was sufficient distance between the two that she didn't need to worry about being easily spotted, even with her red hair. Besides, Spirit was looking in the wrong direction, anyway. The winged girl appeared to be searching for something, but Asuka had no idea what it could be.

A feral grin split Asuka's face as she eyed the blissfully oblivious winged girl. _This is my chance! Screw yelling at Akagi! I can finally get back at that bitch for stealing all the glory from me!_

**This isn't a wise idea,** Zarathos warned, unusually reluctant to enter combat. **Remember, the flames of Hell cannot harm one of innocent blood. Not only is the girl powerful, but she is an innocent as well.**

Asuka looked up and saw that the demon was correct. No dark marks of death swirled around Spirit, which was a shame from her point of view.

_Oh, so all your incredible power really isn't so great after all then, huh?_ Asuka sneered.

**My powers are sufficient to slay any living thing!** Zarathos snapped indignantly.

_Good,_ Asuka replied. _Then fulfill your part of our deal. This girl is _my_ enemy, and I want my revenge against her!_

**You don't have your weapons, or your motorcycle,** Zarathos pointed out. **You don't even have any clothing.**

_Form my things from hellfire,_ Asuka commanded imperiously, thoroughly enjoying bossing Zarathos around for once. _All of it._

**I'll need to use some of my power just to maintain them! That will tilt the odds even further against us!** Zarathos hissed. **I had you obtain the objects through mundane means for a reason, you know.**

_Keep your end of the deal or I'll stop keeping mine!_ Asuka growled.

Zarathos snorted. He knew he could _force_ Asuka to keep serving him, and he knew that _Asuka_ knew it as well. But while he didn't strictly need her cooperation, he wanted it very much.

Asuka knew that, too.

**Very well. I shall uphold my part of our covenant,** Zarathos said at last.

And with that, Asuka Langley Soryu burst into flame. She threw her head back as her body became the center of the demonic inferno, laughing. The pain of her flesh burning away was incredible. Every nerve ending she possessed cried out in agony as they were incinerated.

But it was wonderful. Nothing could compete with the unbridled feeling of _power_ that flooded her now, save for piloting her Unit Two.

The Second Child's flesh was eaten from within by the infernal blaze inside her, reducing her to a bare skeleton. Huge, curved horns grew from her skull as the flames that consumed her body solidified, becoming new flesh.

She smiled, her bony face filled with savage pleasure. Asuka Langley Soryu had gone, and in her place stood the Ghost Rider.

* * *

_Doesn't seem like there's anything out of the ordinary here,_ Spirit thought as she hovered inside the Geofront.

She could still sense the Angel, but it seemed to be in the pyramid that she knew was NERV headquarters. And there was simply no way that she was going in _there_. It would be reckless in the extreme at best, and plain suicidal at worst.

Still, something was nagging at her, something besides being able to sense an Angel inside of the heart of the organization created to destroy them.

_It's too quiet,_ she realized.

Spirit had had to break down a few doors on the access route she'd taken down into the Geofront, and Shinji had told her that NERV could detect her presence with their Angel alert system. The ability to pinpoint her location unless she stayed still for a good while continued to elude them, much to her relief, but they at least should have known she was coming.

So if there was no Angel, why wasn't she greeted by a swarm of VTOL attack fighters, or even EVA Unit Two? If it was a trap, why hadn't it been sprung? Was NERV actually expecting her to go to the pyramid?

Her thoughts were interrupted the roar of an engine. Blinking, Spirit whirled about in midair and looked down, doing a double take at what she saw.

On the ground was a girl on an utterly huge motorcycle. She was clad in fairly typical biker gear, but her head was like a horned skull wreathed in red and orange flame. Blue fire burned hatefully in her eye sockets as she looked up at Spirit.

_The Ghost Rider,_ Spirit thought, remembering her from the tabloid Nozomi had been reading. _What in the world is she doing here?_

"Um, hello?" Spirit called down, the bizarre situation leaving her unusually uncertain. "You're the Ghost Rider, right? What are you doing here?"

The horned rider laughed. "That's what they call me, though I'm also known as the spirit of vengeance! As for what I'm doing here, well, I'm here to get my revenge on _you!_"

"M-Me?!" Spirit exclaimed. "What did I ever do to you?"

The Ghost Rider chuckled. "If you have to ask, you'll never know."

Spirit knew she should have either attacked or fled, but something stayed her hand. There was just something maddeningly _familiar_ about the Ghost Rider, though Spirit didn't have the slightest clue as to what it was. She almost felt as though she'd seen her before, but she was certain she would have remembered _that_ meeting.

So instead she just continued to hover and look down at the other superwoman with curious eyes, confident that her flying ability would keep her out of the fiery girl's reach.

"Look, there's no need for us to fight," Spirit said reasonably. "This is a bad place for it, anyway. NERV doesn't exactly trust our kind, and they can be very opportunistic when it comes to catching us, believe me."

"I don't have to worry about NERV," the Ghost Rider retorted, "but maybe I'll let them have you when I'm done with you."

Spirit crossed her arms. "And how do you intend to get at me, Ghost Rider?"

"Like this!" the Ghost Rider replied.

She gunned the engine of her motorcycle, which let out a thunderous roar as it raced forward, trailing fire behind it. Spirit wondered what she was hoping to achieve, until the Ghost Rider sped onto a small hill, sending the bike flying into the air when she reached her the end of her makeshift ramp.

_She's got to be kidding,_ Spirit thought with the proverbial sweat drop. _There's no way she'll manage to get high enough to…_

Her thought trailed off as the Ghost Rider reached the apex of her jump, and the tires of her monster bike folded downwards. Flames poured out from the bottom of the tires, thwarting the pull of gravity and boosting the Rider higher into the air.

Spirit turned and flew off, not realizing that she was heading toward NERV headquarters. "Can't we talk about this?" she called.

"No!" the Ghost Rider snarled, accelerating as fast as she was able.

_What the heck has she got against me?_ Spirit wondered. _And what _is_ she anyway? I don't think NERV made her. I'm not sensing anything Angelic about her, anyway._

She turned her head, relieved to see that she was slowly but surely putting distance between them. _At least I've got the advantage in the air. Maybe I should—_

Spirit stopped in mid thought as a familiar but very unwelcome sensation swept over her. The combination of sharp fear and incredible desire nearly overwhelmed her as she again felt the presence of the strange Angel she had sensed back on the _Over the Rainbow_. A wave of nausea swept over her and her heartbeat accelerated as she fought the urge to storm the NERV pyramid and seek it.

She didn't notice that she had stopped, but the Ghost Rider did.

Not hesitating to take advantage of this opportunity, the Rider quickly grabbed the chain that was draped over her left shoulder, the metal bursting into flame as she channeled her power into it. She held it over her head, spinning it, then sent it flying with a flick of her wrist toward her enemy.

Spirit screamed as the burning metal links wrapped around one of her ankles, the pain bringing her back to reality immediately. Unfortunately, she was too stunned to stop what came next.

The wheels of the Ghost Rider's bike returned to their normal position, and gravity reclaimed its hold on the spirit of vengeance and her mechanical steed. Spirit let out a shout as she was dragged downward along with them.

The bike landed back on the ground with a bone jarring thud that failed to so much as phase the demonic young woman who sat upon it. Without giving Spirit an extra second to react, the Ghost Rider pulled savagely on her chain with all her superhuman strength.

Spirit cried out in pain as she was slammed into the ground, certain that the impact had broken at least a few bones. She dismissed the pain, however, confident that her injuries would be no more in several seconds at the most. Ignoring her body's screams of agony, she sat up and began to untangle the chain from around her ankle. She was shocked to see that, painful though the touch of the flaming metal was, it was somehow failing to burn her skin at all.

"Well, well, well," the horned superwoman said as she rode up to her, just as Spirit had freed herself from the chain. "Looks like the little Angel isn't so wonderful after all."

The winged girl's eyes narrowed. "I'm not an Angel," she said. "I'm Spirit."

She fired off a cross blast at the Ghost Rider, sending her and her motorcycle flying backwards several meters. The Rider was quickly parted from her Ghostcycle, which went spinning through the air until it slammed into a tree and burst into a cloud of flame that quickly dissipated and vanished.

The horned girl herself landed painfully on the ground. The blast hadn't caught her full on, but a large chunk of her side had been just obliterated by the white energy. The Ghost Rider hissed as flames leapt up from her body and reformed the blazing flesh, her clothing likewise repairing itself a second later.

"Want another?" Spirit taunted, white light forming in her palm as she took to the air again and hovered several meters above the ground. "Or are you finally ready to talk like a civilized person?"

"No, thanks," the Ghost Rider replied curtly, grabbing one of her sawed off shotguns from its place at her hip and pulling the trigger.

Instead of slugs or buckshot, fire erupted from the double barrels of the weapon, streaking toward Spirit. The winged girl was not going to be caught by surprise again, however. She threw another cross blast at the Ghost Rider just as the fireball slammed into her AT field, causing the orange shield of light to flicker dangerously.

The Ghost Rider threw her body into a roll, just barely managing to dodge one of the arms of the cross blast. Without getting up, she grabbed her second shotgun from its holster, aimed, and squeezed the trigger.

This time the blast punched straight through Spirit's weakened AT field, slamming into the girl. The fires of hell couldn't truly hurt the winged heroine, but it was enough to stun her and send her tumbling to the ground again.

"Die, bitch!" the Ghost Rider screamed, sprinting over to her fallen enemy.

She was truly lost in the grip of demonic fury by now, all plans to spare her and give her to the eggheads at NERV to poke and prod as they wished abandoned. Despite what everyone said, Spirit was an Angel, she was certain of it. And killing Angels was what she had been raised to do.

"Die!" she yelled again.

Spirit came back to her senses and looked up to see her foe pulling out something that looked like some kind of sword which had been strapped to her back. Her eyes widened.

_Is that a _chainsaw?!

The winged girl brought her hands up just in time, gripping the flat of the "blade" between her palms as the Ghost Rider swung down, careful to avoid the spinning chain. She was able to stop its descent mere centimeters from her face.

Spirit's lips peeled back as the two fought with all their might. Though neither was the strongest woman in Tokyo-3, both possessed many, many times the strength of the average man. With the Ghost Rider using all her strength to complete her sword's arc, while Spirit gave her all to halt it, it was the classic case of immovable object meets unstoppable force. Something had to give soon.

It turned out to be the sword itself. The guide bar snapped off from the "hilt" of the sword. The chain snapped and went flying harmlessly away into the forest before it burst into a small plume of flame. A moment later, the rest of the sword followed its example and was no more.

The Ghost Rider looked down dumbly at her empty hands, unable to believe her vengeance had been so close only to slip from her fingers.

Spirit wasted no time and shot a cross blast up at the Ghost Rider, sending her flying through the air. The demonic young woman flailed her arms and legs about, even as her flesh was vaporized by the blast and then reformed from more hellfire.

"No more Miss Nice Girl," Spirit growled at she got to her feet.

The winged girl shot up into the air, reaching the Ghost Rider just before gravity was able to claim her again. Spirit grabbed the Ghost Rider's wrist and flipped her, hurling her down to the ground with every ounce of strength she could muster. The Ghost Rider groaned as she slammed into the hard earth.

"That was for what you did with the chain!" Spirit shouted. "And this is for the fire balls!"

She fired another cross blast straight down at the Ghost Rider's prone form, the energy hitting her dead on and drilling into her. A gaping hole was left in her torso, and much of her scarlet skin was burned away. More fire blazed up and repaired the damage, but it was clear that the Ghost Rider couldn't just shrug off the assaults.

Spirit returned to the ground, landing next to her foe. "And this," she said, leaning over and cocking her fist, "is for that crazy chainsaw sword."

The Ghost Rider lunged forward before Spirit could shatter her jaw, wrapping her hands around the winged girl's throat. The fiery motorcyclist pulled Spirit down on top of her, and then rolled over, pinning the silver haired heroine beneath her as she strangled the life out of her.

Spirit flailed about wildly, desperately trying to throw off her assailant, but the Ghost Rider would not be deterred, never allowing her iron grip to waver.

"You should've stayed in the air, little girl," the Ghost Rider sneered, gazing into Spirit's eyes, wanting to see the moment when the light was extinguished from them, when the life of her enemy, the one who had repeatedly stolen the glory that should have been hers, was destroyed. "Or better yet, you should've never tangled with me!"

Spirit finally realized that her panicked struggling would get her nowhere and grabbed her enemy's wrists, trying to pull the hands from her throat. But the oxygen deprivation was already starting to sap her strength, and she couldn't budge the Ghost Rider's hands.

_Is…is this it? _She wondered, feeling surprisingly calm as her vision dimmed. _Never thought I'd go out _this_ way…_

Just before Spirit's red eyes slid shut, a bolt of energy suddenly slammed into the Ghost Rider, throwing her off her prey and sending her sailing ten meters with a cry of pain and rage before she landed on the ground.

Both she and Spirit snapped their gazes toward the source of attack.

It was a girl who appeared to be made of living quicksilver that stood on what looked like a surfboard of the same material, which hovered about a meter off the ground.

"The Silver Surfer," Spirit breathed, too quietly for anyone but her to hear, as she staggered to her feet.

"I will not allow you to harm her further," the Surfer told the Ghost Rider in a calm but firm tone. "Spirit has been a force for only good in this city."

The Ghost Rider chuckled darkly as she pulled herself to her feet. "Well, I guess I have no choice but to give in. After all, I'm outnumbered," she observed. "Two on one's not a fair fight. Not fair."

Spirit tensed at the amused tone in the Ghost Rider's voice, but the Silver Surfer's eyes widened slightly as a tiny bell inside her mind rang. Unfortunately, she couldn't seem to grasp the reason why. She found that she associated the Rider's words with the Seventh Angel.

_But why? I did not even take part in that engagement. I just observed._

She chose exactly the wrong moment to become lost in thought. A rope of flame abruptly formed in the Ghost Rider's hand, quickly transforming into a new chain. She whipped it out toward the Silver Surfer, encircling the herald's waist. With a savage tug and an equally savage yell, the Ghost Rider ripped the Surfer from her board and sent her flying through the air without it. The Surfer slammed into Spirit, and both girls fell to the ground in a heap.

"So long, losers!" the Ghost Rider cackled, as a ball of flame blossomed near her feet, soon transforming into her bike. She jumped onto it, gunned the engine, and took off with a roar.

"The board!" the Surfer hissed as her metallic skin lost its silvery sheen, becoming a much more dull color.

The Ghost Rider had not been so foolish as to try to claim it, and the board hovered motionlessly where it had been. Still, the Surfer summonsed it to her the moment she managed to extract herself from the tangle of limbs she had been stuck in with Spirit, quickly getting back on.

"We should pursue the Ghost Rider," the metallic heroine spoke before Spirit could say anything. "I have ignored her in the past because she has only targeted dangerous criminals up to now, but that is no longer the case."

"Right," Spirit said, nodding.

The two super powered teenagers took to the air, flying above the treetops as they searched for the Ghost Rider, but after several minutes of looking, they turned up nothing.

"I don't get it," Spirit said. "How can someone like _that_ just disappear?"

* * *

Down on the ground, Asuka pressed her body up against a tree, grimacing at the feel of the rough bark against her bare skin. She glared hatefully up at the pair of other super beings as they flew overhead, clenching her fist.

_I was so close to making sure that Spirit never stole my thunder again! And I would've succeeded, too, if not for that Silver Bitch!_

**Now what?** Zarathos asked.

_Now we sneak back to the plug and pretend I never left it,_ Asuka replied.

**I **_**told**_** you this was a bad idea!**

_Shove it!_ Asuka snapped, as she began to pick her way back to her simulation plug.

* * *

"We may not know the full range of the Ghost Rider's abilities," the Surfer said. "In any case, I do not believe we will have to deal with her again today."

"Thank goodness," Spirit said. She then gave the Silver Surfer a smile. "Thank you very much for your help. I don't know how I'll ever repay you."

The Silver Surfer gave her a small, mysterious smile. "Let's just call it even."

"Huh? But I've never done anything for you!" Spirit said, more confused than ever.

The Silver Surfer fell silent for a moment, mulling over whether or not to reveal her identity to Spirit. _Should I?_

_**It is your choice to make, child,**_ Lilith said gently. _**Do you trust her?**_

_I do,_ the Silver Surfer replied. _And…and I believe it might benefit our friendship if I were to tell her. There are not many others like us, not many who can understand the burden of the secrets we carry. In any case, I know who _she_ is. Would it not be…fair to tell her who _I _am?_

_**I suppose,**_ Lilith replied mildly, refusing to make the decision for her herald. _**But you have concerns, too, do you not?**_

_The Commander seeks Spirit's capture,_ the Surfer replied. _If he succeeds, he may place her under extreme duress and cause her to reveal me to him. That would not help either of us. I would be able to do nothing to aid her if I had to elude capture myself._

The Second Angel was stubbornly silent, and the Silver Surfer gave a quiet sigh.

Spirit cleared her throat, regaining the Surfer's attention. "Are you all right?" she asked. "You spaced out for a moment there."

"I am fine," the Silver Surfer answered. "If possible, I will explain why I feel you owe me nothing at a later date. Now, however, I must go."

"Wait, what about the Angel?" Spirit asked.

"The Eleventh Angel has taken an unconventional form," the Silver Surfer replied, conveying a condensed version of what Lilith had told her of it. "We cannot fight it and must hope that NERV is up to the task of destroying it."

Spirit nodded. She considered asking about the other Angel, the one that filled her anxiety and wanting at the same time but decided against it. After her battle with the Ghost Rider, all she wanted was to go home and be Hikari again.

"All right," she said. "Thanks again for your help. I hope we meet again!"

A small smile graced the Silver Surfer's face as Spirit flew off. "Don't worry, we will," she said softly. "I will be seeing you at school tomorrow, after all."

The Silver Surfer flew back down to where the three abandoned simulation plugs lay, unaware that she had just missed Asuka's return. She opened her own up and dismissed the shadow of herself she had left there in her place. Ordering the board to return to its hiding place, she banished her metallic covering and sat in her command chair to wait until someone arrived to take the pilots back to headquarters.

"Hello!" she heard Shinji call out. "Is anybody out there?"

The corners of Rei's lips quirked upwards.

* * *

Some time later at the Horaki house, a very tired Hikari trudged downstairs.

_What a crazy day,_ she thought. _The Ghost Rider has a grudge against me for no reason, and the Silver Surfer apparently felt like she owed me something, also for no reason._

She was not entirely surprised when she reached the kitchen to find what had once been fish but now was a lump of charcoal sitting on the kitchen table, with Kodama and Nozomi arguing loudly.

"It's your fault!"

"No, it's not, you little brat! It's your fault!"

"You were supposed to watch it!"

"No, you were! I told you to wait for the timer to go off!"

Hikari grabbed a large wooden spoon and smacked it against the wall, causing her sisters to jump and turn toward her.

"I really don't care whose fault it is," Hikari said in a soft voice that simply _radiated_ danger, fully taking on her matron persona. "One of you throw that away, and the other one order a pizza. I do not feel like cooking a fresh meal."

"Uh, okay," Kodama said, heading for the phone.

"Sure thing, nee-chan," Nozomi said, picking up the tray and moving for the trash can.

"Oh, and Nozomi-chan?" Hikari asked.

"Yes, nee-chan?" the little girl asked, looking more than a little nervous.

"I am never, ever going to let you talk me into doing something so reckless again," Hikari said. "Now I'm going upstairs to lie down for a little while. I'm exhausted. Come get me when the pizza gets here."

"Of course," Nozomi said.

Hikari wordlessly left the kitchen and headed back up the stairs. Kodama gave Nozomi a questioning look as she held the phone to her ear, clearly wondering what Hikari's problem was. The youngest Horaki just shrugged in response.

* * *

Author's Notes: First of all, I want to thank orionpax09 for giving me permission to use his superwomen of EVA, and for being so kind as to furnish me with the info I needed for the Ghost Rider's appearance here. This chapter would have been pretty dull without it. And, don't worry about not PMing me right away. It was my fault for being lazy about my profile and forgetting to turn on the PMs. I hope you enjoyed this and don't mind the few extra powers I gave Asuka. I tried to keep it to stuff Johnny Blaze could do (or at least stuff wiki says he can do, as I've never been that hugely into Ghost Rider), like creating stuff from hellfire. I'm pretty sure he could make the bike from it, for instance. I couldn't have her fighting Spirit unarmed and unclothed (that's She-Hulk's bit).

Now, I know a few of you were aware that Ghost Rider would make an appearance, but I hope I caught you by surprise with the Silver Surfer. It just seemed appropriate to have her and Spirit fight side by side at least once, if only briefly, since they're the only two superwomen so far who are friends both when they're being superheroes and normal people.

Konous the grey, once the twisted romantic relationships go past being triangles, I just call the love polygons. :D

Zoro50, I admit that the last bits of the previous chapter were somewhat lackluster, but I couldn't think of anything else to do besides type out the unaltered battle against the Tenth Angel, and I didn't want to do that. Anyway, thanks for the suggestion, I'll almost certainly make use of it.

Reform Joms, I think the manga where Shinji has the gun is fan made, and if you start counting AUs that were created by the fans, there would be hundreds. Anyway, just to let you know, the Angel from the last chapter was the Tenth, which was the living bomb that they had to catch before it could hit the ground.

Kenzie, it's good to have you back. I was wondering what had happened to you. :) Anyway, the thing with Misato having passed out was a nod to events in orionpax09's "Superwomen of Eva: Emerald Fury." It never happened in the anime, which is probably why you're confused.

Anyway, I hope you all had as much fun reading this chapter as I had writing it, and thanks to all my readers and reviewers.

* * *

Omakes

Some Crossovers Should Never Happen

Down on the ground, Asuka pressed her body up against a tree, grimacing at the feel of the rough bark against her bare skin. She glared hatefully up at the pair of other super beings as they flew overhead, clenching her fist.

_I was so close to making sure that Spirit never stole my thunder again! And I would've succeeded, too, if not for that meddling Silver Surfer and her board!_

"Pen-Pen Pen-Pen Doo!" Misato's pet penguin suddenly squawked, appearing from seemingly nowhere.

"Argh!" Asuka shouted, jumping a foot in the air in surprise.

* * *

Overworked Spirit of Vengeance

Down on the ground, Asuka pressed her body up against a tree, grimacing at the feel of the rough bark against her bare skin. She glared hatefully up at the pair of other super beings as they flew overhead, clenching her fist.

_I was so close to making sure that Spirit never stole my thunder again! And I would've succeeded, too, if not for that Silver Bitch!_ _That's it! She just made the list!_

Zarathos groaned as, using the magic of animation, Asuka pulled a scroll of paper out from nowhere and allowed it unroll. It easily reached her feet and with paper to spare. At the top was the heading "People/things to get revenge upon and/or destroy."

"Let's see," Asuka muttered as she looked at it, trying to decide where to place the Silver Surfer on it. "I'll put her below Commander Ikari, Shinji, Rei, that admiral who called my Unit Two a toy, the Japanese written language, and the Japanese school system, but below that hairdresser who made me look like a boy when I was nine…"

Zarathos sighed. _**I should've known there had to be a catch with making her the next Rider…**_


	15. Chapter 14

Disclaimer: Neon Genesis Evangelion is the creation of Anno and Gainax. I don't own it, make no claims to it, and am making no profit from the fan fiction. No infringement of copyright is intended. In other words, please don't sue.

* * *

Chapter Fourteen

Weeks of relative calm passed after the Eleventh Angel was defeated by NERV, marred only by the disastrous cross-compatibility experiment that caused Unit Zero to go berserk. However, this was something Hikari only heard about after the fact and with the knowledge that Shinji had emerged from the ordeal quite fine. Indeed, when things did begin moving again, she didn't immediately realize it, thinking the lull had not quite ended yet.

"Hey, Hikari-chan, can I ask you something?" Kodama asked, approaching her one evening after Nozomi had gone to bed. "A favor?"

Hikari's eyes narrowed as she instantly recognized the look on Kodama's face. It was the kind of guilty, sheepish look that Nozomi usually wore before confessing to some minor offence after being caught. It was rare for the eldest Horaki sister to wear that expression, but when she did, it was rarely followed by anything good.

"Of course, nee-chan," Hikari replied.

"Okay, listen, I've sort of been…seeing this med student at college," Kodama began.

"You have a boyfriend?" Hikari asked, surprised. "Why haven't you said anything yet? How long have you been seeing this guy?"

"You misunderstand," Kodama said, waving her hands in front of her and looking more embarrassed than ever. "He's not my boyfriend, and I'm not interested in the guy. I just sort of…flirted with him a little bit, because I wanted access to the medical labs at the college."

"What? Why?" Hikari asked, frowning. "Nee-chan, you shouldn't play with a boy's heart like that."

Kodama crossed her arms and scowled. "I did it for you, I'll have you know," she said defensively. "I was hoping that it might be possible for me to do a little research on your…transformation, without running the risk of exposing you."

Hikari was interested despite herself. "Did you manage to discover something?"

"Did I ever ask you for blood or hair samples?" Kodama asked crossly. "That place is _never_ empty, from when it opens to when it closes. I never knew there were so many med students at my school. Besides, I'm not sure that I could run any tests without the college's computer recording the data, and we both know what _that_ could result in."

Hikari had a sudden vision of herself sitting on a giant dissection table as Spirit, with Dr. Akagi hovering over her with an extremely sharp scalpel. She shuddered slightly.

"Okay, so you've given up on this endeavor," Hikari said. "I can understand that. But what do you need from me?"

"Well, you see, the thing is, I can't get rid of the guy," Kodama said, sighing in exasperation. "I might be the only woman that's shown any interest in him since…ever, and he's sticking to me like glue! The guy just won't take a hint that I don't want to see him anymore!"

"I still don't understand where I come in," Hikari said.

"Uh, the thing is, as interested as he is in me, he's even more interested in EVA…and redheads," Kodama said, looking sheepish again.

Hikari squeezed her eyes shut and pinched the bridge of her nose, instantly realizing what her sister was getting at. "You want me to set him up with Asuka so he'll forget about you, don't you?" she asked.

"Hai," Kodama answered.

"Nee-chan, I can't set my friend up with some creepy older guy," Hikari said firmly. "Who knows what he might do to her?"

"He's not dangerous. I wouldn't suggest getting him near Asuka if he was," Kodama protested. "He's just…really, really awkward and clingy. Please, Hikari-chan, I'm begging you! I'll never be rid of this guy if you don't help me!"

Hikari sighed as she watched Kodama literally get on her knees before her and fold her hands together in a prayer-like gesture. Kodama _had_ gotten herself into this fix trying to help her, after all. Besides, it wasn't as if Asuka would have trouble telling this guy _exactly_ how she felt about him.

"All right, I'll ask her," Hikari said.

"Arigato!" Kodama exclaimed, springing to her feet and hugging Hikari tightly in what seemed like an absurd show of gratitude.

_Wow, either this guy is _really_ annoying, or she just _really_ wants me to know she appreciates this,_ Hikari thought before giving a mental shrug and hugging Kodama back.

* * *

"GET OFF ME YOU PERVERT!" Asuka shouted into her cell phone. "NO! HELP ME KAJI!"

She then pushed the "end" button on her phone. "There," Asuka said in satisfaction. "That ought to do it."

"What's all the noise about?" Hikari asked, emerging from the classroom with a broom in hand.

"Tomorrow's Sunday," Asuka said. "I want Kaji to take me out, but his phone's been off for the last few days."

"So you're free tomorrow?" Hikari asked eagerly.

* * *

Several days later, while Asuka was contemplating on whether or not to ditch the most socially awkward student of medicine in Tokyo-3, Shinji was visiting a certain memorial with his father for the first time in years.

The cemetery had always looked strange to Shinji. The rows and rows of little monoliths of black stone, all identical save for the inscriptions carved upon them, and the dusty ground, bare of vegetation, made the place feel downright alien at times to the son of Yui Ikari.

_Like night's plutonian shore,_ he thought, recalling a snippet of poetry by a Western writer he'd had to read once for school.

The presence of his father behind him didn't exactly help make the cemetery feel more welcoming.

"It's been three years since we were last here together," Gendo commented as Shinji kneeled before the tombstone and placed a small bouquet of white flowers before it.

"I ran away then, and I haven't been back since," Shinji said softly. "It just hasn't sunk in that mother is resting here. I don't remember her face."

"Man survives by forgetting his memories, but there are some things a man should never forget. Yui taught me about the irreplaceable things. I come here to confirm that," Gendo said.

Shinji, unused to his father's tendency to become philosophical when not giving orders, was taken aback for a moment. He had expected something more along the lines of a wistful "She was very beautiful" or "Her eyes were just like yours."

"You don't have any pictures of her," Shinji said.

"No," Gendo said. "There are none left. The grave is just a decoration, too. There is no body here."

"I would have liked to have known what my mother looked like," Shinji said, a trace of accusation creeping into his voice despite himself. "Why didn't you save just one photograph?"

"I keep everything in my heart, that is enough for now," Gendo said.

Shinji's eyes narrowed slightly, the Third Child noticing the dodge for what it was. "But _why_ did you destroy the pictures?" he asked. He paused for a brief moment, then added, "Did looking at them bring you pain?"

Gendo was silent for long, long time, and Shinji grew certain that he wouldn't answer.

"Yes," Gendo admitted at last, surprising Shinji.

"So," Shinji swallowed, "does looking at me bring you pain, too? Because you can see some of her in me? Is that why you left me?"

"That was…part of the reason." Gendo confessed.

The words hit Shinji like a punch to the gut. _Is that all I am to you, Father? A painful reminder of mother? Nothing more?_

He felt hot tears sting his eyes, but he refused to let them fall like he had ten years ago on the train platform. He wondered why he had asked the question, knowing as he did that he might not like the answer and that his father would not bother to lie to him to spare his feelings.

"I see," Shinji said, his voice tight.

He was suddenly hit by a blast of wind as a VTOL neared the ground, its engines nearly deafening him. Shinji didn't move an inch.

"It's time," Gendo said. "I'm leaving now."

Shinji just nodded. Gendo boarded the aircraft without another word, and there was another blast of wind and noise, signaling his departure. Shinji waited motionlessly until he was absolutely sure that his father was long gone.

Then he wiped his damp eyes and silently walked off.

* * *

_Sleeping only four hours a night is the worst 'power' ever,_ Hikari thought sullenly as she quietly picked her way down the stairs, wincing at every creak of the floorboards beneath her.

She couldn't stay in her room studying or doing any of her other silent activities any longer; she was just too bored with it. So, despite the risk of rousing her family, Hikari crept downstairs looking for something to keep her occupied for at least a while.

The class rep was surprised to see that a light on downstairs. Heading into the kitchen, she found Kodama seated at the table. The eldest Horaki girl was in her pajamas and holding a steaming mug of tea.

"Nee-chan?" Hikari spoke.

Kodama looked up at her, seeming vaguely surprised to see her for a moment before an expression of realization set in. "Oh, Hikari-chan, I keep forgetting that you don't sleep very much anymore."

"Lucky you," Hikari said. "I wish I could forget about that."

Kodama gave her a small smile. "It must make keeping up with your schoolwork a breeze."

"Yeah," Hikari admitted, "it does. But it's not like I was having such a hard time of it before."

"Wait till you reach college," Kodama advised. "Then you'll be glad of that little talent, especially if you decide to study science. Would you like some tea, by the way?"

"Arigato," Hikari said and Kodama poured her a mug.

Hikari took a tiny taste of her drink, not forgetting that Kodama could sometimes make Misato Katsuragi look like an Iron Chef. Fortunately, the tea was fine, and if Kodama noticed how careful her first sip was, she didn't take offense.

"So, what are you doing up so late? I know it's not exam season," Hikari said, knowing that the pressure of the tests tended to give Kodama terrible insomnia.

"Oh, I have a paper that's due soon that's stressing me out," Kodama answered with a dismissive shrug.

Hikari resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Kodama always made top grades, but still always managed to make herself almost sick with worry when something like this popped up.

"So," Kodama said after several moments of silence had passed between the two, "how's the superheroing going?"

Hikari frowned. "Is 'superheroing' even a word?" she asked.

"Probably not, but don't use a science major's bad grammar as an excuse to dodge the question," Kodama said mildly.

Hikari's eyes narrowed slightly. "Nee-chan, you're not about to try and make me stop again, are you?"

Kodama shook her head. "I gave up on that a while ago, though it still scares the hell out of me whenever you go out to fight an Angel," she said. "But you still haven't answered my question."

Hikari sighed. "It's…not as fun as it used to be."

It seemed like so long ago now that she had blown Toji a kiss from behind the safety of Spirit's mask, blissfully unaware that the leadership of NERV wanted her captured or dead. What had happened to the days before she'd had to worry about that strange Angel which seemed to draw her to it, the one which she now knew lurked somewhere inside of NERV itself?

Never mind the time when Hikari Horaki had been just an average teenage girl, remarkable only for being one of the strictest class representatives in Tokyo-3 Municipal Junior High. _Those_ days were practically ancient history, or felt like it anyway.

Kodama didn't say anything in reply, instead favoring Hikari with a look that the class rep could read rather easily.

"I'm not going to stop," Hikari said, her voice calm but firm. "I have the power to save lives. I have to use it."

Kodama smiled ruefully. "You always were such a good girl."

Coming from just about anyone else, this would have offended Hikari, even though it was more or less true. However, the complete absence of malice from Kodama served to prevent any ire she might have felt. "Oh, like you should talk," Hikari teased. "You're not exactly Miss Rebelliousness yourself, nee-chan."

Kodama chuckled and took a sip of her tea. "I guess you've got me there," she conceded. "Hikari-chan, I'd like you to know that, despite how hard I've tried to get you to stop, I really am proud of you for what you've done with these crazy powers. I think most girls your age would just goof off with them, maybe go for a little 'super-power shopping' or something, but you try and save people's lives with them. That really says something about you."

Hikari swallowed, feeling a lump building in her throat. "Arigato, nee-chan."

"Dad would be proud of you, too," Kodama said, then smirked. "If he knew and could get past the panic induced by knowing one of his little girls routinely goes to the front lines in the war against the Angels."

Hikari chuckled, though she felt tears forming in her eyes at the same time. "Arigato, nee-chan," she said.

Kodama smiled. "Well, I'm going up to try and catch some sleep. Good night, Hikari-chan."

The eldest Horaki sister patted Hikari on the back and then headed for the stairs, actually feeling like the eldest for the first time in a long time.

* * *

It was said that war is long periods of boredom that is occasionally broken by brief periods of absolute carnage.

If the battles of the Evangelions against the Angels were the brief periods of carnage in the war that humanity found itself currently in, then the synchronization tests were the long periods of boredom. The Children had to sit inside the test plugs for hours to get a good baseline reading of their current abilities to sync with their Evangelions, and the technicians had to monitor it the entire time for anomalies which almost never occurred.

Misato, for her part, was just glad that she didn't need to be present for the entire thing, though she did make a point of being there for the start and finish of the tests.

"You look bone tired, Major," Makoto commented. "Are you all right?"

The Ops Director couldn't help but grin. "There's a reason that I'm tired."

"Kaji's bone?" Ritsuko asked with a smirk.

"Shut your face!" Misato barked, causing everyone _but_ Ritsuko to recoil in surprise and not a little fright.

They didn't like the Major when she was angry…well, Makoto did, but he was the exception.

"So, how's the Third Child doing?" Misato asked, calming down instantly.

Maya smiled. "Take a look."

Misato leaned over the technician's shoulder and gazed at the graph that was displayed on her screen, grinning as she read it. "Hopefully this should give him some confidence," she said.

The Major reached over and opened up a communications channel between the control room and the Unit One test plug. "Hey, Shinji-kun," she said cheerfully.

"Misato," Shinji said, opening his eyes and smiling up at her. "How were my test scores?"

The purple haired woman gave him a thumbs up. "You're number one!"

From that moment on until the end of the day, Shinji was on an emotional high the likes of which he'd never experienced before. The brief words of congratulations he received from the various technicians he often dealt with only served to elevate that high, as did overhearing someone say it was like he was "born to pilot EVA."

For the first time since the anniversary of his mother's death, he didn't care that his father saw him as a painful reminder of what he'd lost. Nor did Asuka's obvious displays of displeasure back at the apartment phase him. He was the best, he was pleased with himself, and he was utterly unaware of what form the next Angel would take.

* * *

_It's not the battle so much as the waiting,_ Hikari thought, trying not to show her anxiety as she kept her sixth sense trained on the approaching Angel. _Really, the fighting's actually kind of fun, but the waiting…_

"Hey, are you listening?" Asuka asked suddenly.

"Gomen, Asuka," Hikari said. "My mind was wandering."

Asuka just heaved a tired sigh in way of response, causing Hikari to frown slightly. The German had been in a sour mood for over a week now, thanks to the fact that "her" Kaji had gotten back together with Misato. Now Shinji's recent accomplishment with EVA wasn't helping her disposition in the least.

"Well, never mind," Asuka said, her mood abruptly shifting, as it was wont to do at times. "So, have any plans for the weekend?"

"None so far, why?" Hikari asked.

"I was thinking we could do the mall, maybe drag Rei along with us. I heard that they're playing _My Sassy Girl_ at the movie theater there, and I think the First could do with a little culture," Asuka's grin then turned wicked. "Maybe we could drag the Third along, too."

Hikari giggled at the thought of making Shinji endure the long romantic comedy, briefly forgetting about the approaching Angel. The idea was made even funnier by the fact that Hikari knew that the female lead in the film constantly beat up on and bossed around the male lead. The class rep was quite certain that Shinji got more than enough of that in real life.

"I don't think even Shinji would agree to that," Hikari said with a grin. "I'm up for the mall, but are you sure you want to do the movie? It's spoken in Korean and the subtitles will be in Japanese…"

Asuka waved a dismissive hand. "I've gotten better at reading the kanji," she bragged. "Besides, I've seen that movie so many times with English subtitles that I really don't need to be able to read the dialogue to know what's happening."

"All right," Hikari said with a smile. "In that case—"

The class rep was interrupted by the electronic ring of Asuka's cell phone going off. The Second Child answered it and said only, "I'll be right there," before snapping the phone shut.

"Angel?" Hikari asked, already knowing the answer.

"Yeah," Asuka said. "The alarms should go off—"

The redhead was interrupted by the sound of the sirens sounding all over the city.

"—any second now," Asuka finished. "Gotta go."

As the pilots quickly rushed off toward a waiting Section Two car, Hikari immediately leapt to the task of rounding up class 2-A so she could herd them down to the shelter.

The job took less time than she'd expected, largely thanks to some unexpected help from Yuki. Hikari smiled as she got the class heading for the entrance to the heavily armored bunker behind the school. If Sensei ever did ask her to check his grade book, she really _would_ have to make sure the other girl passed everything with flying colors.

"Everyone is present and accounted for, Sensei," Hikari told their teacher a few minutes later. "Except for Ayanami, Ikari, and Soryu, of course."

"Very good," the Sensei said. "Arigato, Horaki-san."

Hikari gave their gray haired teacher a quick bow before turning and heading to the bathrooms, thankfully not encountering Yuki on the way. Her luck held out as she went into the girls' bathroom, finding it vacant, and she quickly changed into her costume.

"I have wings," she whispered to herself.

The feathery appendages emerged from her back as usual, and Spirit rushed toward the surface.

* * *

"All right," Misato addressed the pilots from her place on the command bridge. "We've sent you all the data on the current Angel. It's literally all we have. I want you all to close in on the target and attack with caution. We don't know what it's capable of yet. Asuka, I want you to take point. Shinji and Rei will back you up."

"Wait a minute, Misato! I think Shinji should take the point position!" Asuka spoke up.

For a moment, the command center of NERV was dead silent, save for the omnipresent humming of the MAGI supercomputers. Misato briefly considered asking Makoto to check their radar and see if a squadron of pigs was flying into Tokyo-3. Ritsuko wished that Misato hadn't trashed the lava diving probe at Mount Asuma on a previous mission, reasoning that they could have used it to see if hell had indeed frozen over.

"Wha-what?" Shinji elegantly broke the silence.

"Well, isn't the point position most suited for the bravest pilot with the highest sync ratio?" Asuka asked. "Unless, of course, you're scared…"

"I am _not_ scared!" Shinji retorted hotly. "I'll do it! In fact, I'll show you how it ought to be done!"

"Hey, wait a minute…" Misato said, her shock at Shinji's behavior momentarily robbing her of her ability to project authority.

"Misato, you did say that I'm number one, didn't you?" Shinji reminded her.

"Well, yes, but…" the Major trailed off, finding herself caught between hoping to put the brakes on Shinji's abrupt show of aggression and not wanting to crush her ward's newfound self-esteem.

"Don't worry, Misato, I can handle this," Shinji said. "After all, this is a job for the pilot with the highest sync ratio, and that's me!"

He had considered saying that combat was a "man's job" but even in his current state, he couldn't be that chauvinistic. At least, not when he knew there was a girl out there who could kill Angels with just her bare hands and the deadly blasts of energy she could fire from her hands.

"Grr!" Asuka growled as his comm. window winked out. "That idiot. Unit Two will back up Unit One."

"Unit Zero will back up as well," Rei added.

The remaining windows vanished, and the main screen in the NERV command center was replaced with a view of the Angel. Misato sighed.

"Well, Shinji certainly seems to be getting more _confident,_" Ritsuko commented cattily.

Misato shook her head. "I'm going to have to chew him out when he gets back."

"Major," Makoto spoke up. "The MAGI have detected a red/blue pattern. Spirit's coming."

"Understood," Misato said.

_I guess it was lucky after all that the commanders are out of town again,_ she thought, silently hoping that the winged girl wouldn't just add to whatever chaos her disobedient pilots might create.

* * *

"Well, this is new," Spirit mused as she flew toward the huge sphere with the zebra stripes as it floated lazily through Tokyo-3.

The sphere wasn't exactly the most frightening looking thing that she'd ever seen, and Spirit had no idea how it could possibly attack her or anyone else without limbs of any kind.

But then again, she'd had similar thoughts about the Fifth Angel, shortly before it had half-cooked her, she reminded herself. The Angels always seemed to have nasty surprises in store.

"Unfortunately, the only way to get them to reveal those secrets is to attack them first," Spirit muttered, flying toward the Angel.

Unlike the Evangelions, which had to move along the roads as if they were normal pedestrians, the flying girl was able to take a straight route to her target. Add in the fact that the EVA Units had to occasionally stop to change umbilical cables, and that they were trying to be stealthy despite their massive size, and Spirit was able to get into range well before they drew near.

_Well, it hasn't done anything yet,_ she thought as white light appeared in her palm. _That's a good sign, right?_

Hoping it was, Spirit fired a cross blast straight at the Angel, the white bolt of energy streaking right for it and then straight _into_ it.

She blinked in confusion as the Angel simply winked out of existence when the energy attack hit it, then reappeared unscathed once the blast had dissipated. "What the hell?"

Spirit hovered in place for a few seconds, looking up at the sphere and wondering what was to be done about the passive but seemingly indestructible Angel. Then, from the corner of her eye, she noticed that several of the buildings were moving.

_What?! Why in the world would they transform the city back before the Angel's dead?_ She wondered before she looked about and realized that NERV _wasn't_ switching Tokyo-3 back to its peacetime formation.

Spirit gasped. The skycrapers—all of them really enormous weapons blocks or giant containers which held Evangelion scale weaponry—were slowly sinking into the inky black shadow of the Twelfth Angel!

_That's the real Angel,_ she realized, even as part of her dimly took note of the Evangelions as they rapidly fled to safety. _The sphere's just a decoy…or something._

She wasn't entirely sure why she was so certain that the shadow was her true target, but she decided it didn't really matter. Spirit fired a cross blast straight down into the pitch dark vortex below her, only to watch it be swallowed as easily as the Angel was consuming the buildings in its range.

"So, you can shrug off that, huh?" she grumbled, cracking her knuckles. "Let's see what happens when I kick it up a notch…"

She brought her hands together and summonsed all the power she could, white light flaring up between her palms.

"Take this!" Spirit shouted as she sent a Halo Wave flying straight down at the paper thin Angel.

The Twelfth Angel easily swallowed the energy blast which had utterly vaporized more than half of the Ninth Angel's body.

"No way," Spirit whispered in disbelief, panting slightly with exertion. "What am I supposed to do?"

She suddenly noticed a quick flash of red in her peripheral vision. Irrationally fearing that it was Unit Two for a moment, Spirit quickly turned to see that men had appeared on the roofs of several of the buildings in ones and twos, all of them dressed in off-white uniforms and with bright scarlet berets on their heads.

Her eyes widened. _I thought those things were remote controlled!_

Immediately springing into action, Spirit flew toward one of the buildings that was starting to tilt to the side as it sank into the sea of ebony below it, looking more and more like a structure that would envy the Leaning Tower of Pisa. The two soldiers on top of it were sliding down the roof despite their best efforts, finding nothing they could grab on the mostly smooth surface. There wasn't even a safety railing of any kind for them to grasp onto.

Spirit caught the pair just before they went tumbling off the edge. "Need a lift?" she asked cheerfully.

If this was all she could do in this battle, then so be it, she decided. The silver haired girl quickly flew outside the danger zone and landed atop a different weapons block, gently setting the two men down.

"You guys okay?" she asked.

"Um, yeah, thanks," one of them responded slowly, still looking shaken from his near death experience. "But, uh, we're kind of supposed to capture you if we see you…"

Spirit rolled her eyes as the man pointed his submachine gun at her with trembling hands, noting the NERV patchs the two wore on their uniforms for the first time. The girl deftly snatched the weapon from the soldier, ripped out the clip, then easily bent the gun until it was roughly U-shaped.

"Good luck with that," she said sweetly as she handed him back his now ruined firearm.

The man blanched. "Uh, never mind! Carry on!"

The other soldier just nodded earnestly in agreement with his comrade, obviously not looking for a fight either. Not after that display.

"Sayonara!" Spirit smirked before flying off again.

She set a straight course for another one of the dangerously leaning buildings, planning on rescuing the soldiers from those before going for the ones that were still standing up straight, even as they appeared to grow shorter with each passing second.

So determined and focused on her goal of rescuing as many of the stranded soldiers as she could, Spirit did notice the man until it was too late.

A soldier stood at the very edge of one of the more stable buildings, waiting for his opportunity. He was willing to gamble that with the Angel unable to attack her, the winged girl wasn't bothering to keep her AT field up at the moment.

He was right.

The man leapt off the side of the building as she glided past, managing to land on her back and grab onto her white wings. Spirit screamed, flailing about frantically as the two of them began to hurdle downwards, her mind not yet comprehending what had just happening.

The soldier would have caused them both to fall into the abyss, if not for the 30 millimeter cannon shaft that they passed on their way down. Spirit somehow managed to grab the barrel and gripped it with both hands, abruptly halting their descent.

"Ahh!" she screamed in pain as inertia and the soldier's weight wrenched her wings, making it feel like he was nearly tearing them right out. "Let go of my wings!"

"No!" the soldier roared.

"Baka!" Spirit snapped. "You'll kill us both! I can save us, but only if you _stop pulling my wings_!"

"I'm dead already!" the man replied. "At least if I take you with me, my family will be rewarded for my final act!"

"You don't know the commander very well, do you?" Spirit asked.

The soldier didn't reply, instead pulling harder on her wings, trying to make himself as heavy as possible. Spirit cried out again and began to writhe about, trying to shake the man off.

The building they were on started to tilt, and Spirit began to slide down the barrel of the enormous gun. She desperately tried to halt her slow descent, gripping more tightly. The metal beneath her fingers bent under the pressure, but that failed to make her sweaty hands stop sliding.

It looked as if the only way she could save herself would be to spread her AT field, flinging the man off of her. But that would be signing the soldier's death warrant, and though he wasn't exactly her favorite person at the moment, she loathed the idea of killing anyone, even in this kind of situation.

The soldier suddenly lost his hold on her as several large white feathers that he'd caught between his fingers were finally ripped out of Spirit's wings. The man screamed as he began to tumble toward the shadow.

Only to abruptly fall silent as Spirit grabbed his wrist. His eyes bugged out in pure shock as he looked up at the teenage girl he had tried to kill.

"Just be glad I value what ability to sleep I have left enough not to let you drop," she growled at him.

Her wings healed after a few seconds, and Spirit again flew away from the Angel's shadow, depositing the solider on top of another rooftop. She turned to look back out at the area caught by the Angel, seeing that the many "fake" skyscrapers with in had almost all fallen over and were now nearly all gone into the black pool below them.

"I hope you're happy," she spat, spinning around to face the man. "If not for you I would have been able to save more of your fellow soldiers!"

The man blanched. Spirit flew off, looking for more trapped soldiers, but she found none; the Twelfth Angel had gotten them all. With a heavy sigh, Spirit flew back toward the entrance to the shelter, knowing she could do no more.

* * *

"Well, baka, I guess that being the best on some test doesn't always mean you'll be the best in real life, nicht?" Asuka taunted in a syrupy sweet tone of voice.

Shinji didn't say anything. He only looked up and nodded briefly before directing his gaze back down to his feet. The Third Child had spent the last several hours just sitting silently and feeling vaguely nauseous as he contemplated what could have happened to him if Spirit hadn't sprung the trap before he could.

_I might have been eaten by the Angel,_ he thought. _God, I was so _stupid!

"Asuka, that's enough," Misato said sternly, approaching the pilots. "It's not your place to scold him."

"No, it's yours, but you're not exactly doing your job," Asuka snapped back, recalling the extremely brief lecture that the Operations Director had given him upon their return.

Misato crossed her arms. "Does he look like he needs getting yelled at more to learn his lesson and feel sorry about going off all half-cocked?"

Asuka glanced at the obviously miserable boy and found she couldn't exactly debate that particular point. Despite this, however, it infuriated her how everyone always seemed to use the kid gloves when it came to the Third Child.

_Why does everyone always pamper him?_ She wondered.

"It's almost time for the bomb drop," Misato said. "The three of you get to your EVA's."

The three pilots nodded and headed off for their waiting Evangelions. Misato let out a sigh once they were out of sight and headed for the mobile command center nearby.

"Status report?" Misato asked as she walked in.

"We're T-minus ten minutes away from the drop," Makoto answered. "The pilots are boarding their EVA Units now. Everything's on schedule."

Misato nodded and turned to Ritsuko. "I hope this works."

The bottle blonde just nodded in response. _Me too,_ she thought.

Time ticked by as slowly as it always did when one was waiting and anxious. Finally, the time to commence the operation began, and a buzzer sounded inside the mobile command center.

"The EVA Units are spreading their AT fields," Makoto reported. "The bombers are getting into position."

Lines of exhaust from hundreds of bombers streaked across the orange sky, creating an unnatural tic-tac-toe pattern. As they flew over the shadow of the Twelfth Angel, they opened their bomb bay doors, and nearly 1,000 N2 warheads plummeted toward it, soon landing in the ebony darkness, which easily swallowed them up.

"The warheads are set to detonate in exactly ten seconds," Makoto said.

The ten seconds passed, and were followed by several incredibly long, tense moments. Misato began to fear that the Angel had digested the entirety of Tokyo-3's stockpile of N2 bombs as easily as it had the buildings it had already consumed.

Then the ground began to shake beneath them.

"What's happening?!" Misato demanded.

"Energy readings are going off the scale!" Makoto reported. "The MAGI aren't sure what it means yet!"

"Look!" Ritsuko exclaimed, pointing at the main screen.

The zebra-striped sphere that was supposedly just the real Angel's shadow was starting to crack. Crimson blood was spurting from the fissures, and the sphere itself was trembling.

Then the world turned white as the sphere exploded, nuclear fire erupting outward. The force of the blast, far more than enough to level the fortress city of Tokyo-3, slammed into the orange barriers generated by the trio of Evangelions, sending the destructive energy upwards and sparing the city any more needless destruction.

"Status report!" Misato barked, blinking away spots caused by the flash.

"The blue pattern's disappeared," Makoto answered. "The target has been completely destroyed. All three Evangelions are undamaged."

Misato breathed a sigh of relief. "Downgrade alert status to yellow," she ordered. "Retrieve the EVA's and begin clean up and repairs. This operation's over."

* * *

"The Angels are starting to get _weird_," Nozomi commented quietly as she and Hikari walked to school.

"Tell me about it," Hikari sighed, "Actually, don't. We're almost there, and I don't need anyone overhearing us."

Nozomi nodded and was about to change the subject when she realized that Hikari had stopped. Frowning in confusion, she looked up at her sister, noticing that there was a dreamy look in Hikari's eyes. Following the class rep's line of sight, Nozomi almost laughed aloud when she saw a guy in a black track suit accompanied by a girl about her age.

"Nee-chan!" Nozomi said loudly, jolting Hikari out of her reverie.

"What?" Hikari asked, trying to pretend like nothing had happened.

"You like him, don't you?" Nozomi asked, barely suppressed laughter clear in her voice.

"N-no!" Hikari stammered.

"Uh-huh, suuuuure," Nozomi drawled with a broad grin. "Well, don't worry, nee-chan! I'll help you get your dream guy!"

Hikari paled. "What?! No! Nozomi!"

But the youngest Horaki sister was already running toward her side of the school, giggling almost hysterically the whole way. Hikari sighed, knowing she'd just make a complete fool of herself if she chased her now.

_I'll have to keep an eye on Toji and intercept Nozomi if she tries to talk to him today,_ she thought. _I'll give her a talking to after school._

Satisfied that she could avert the disaster that would undoubtedly result from Nozomi trying to play matchmaker, Hikari headed to her own classroom. She was unsurprised to see no one else besides Rei present; besides herself, only the First Child ever bothered to enter the classroom more than a few minutes before class began.

"Ohayo, Rei," Hikari greeted with a small smile. "How are you?"

"Ohayo, Hikari," Rei responded politely. "To answer your question, I find that I am…upset by Asuka's actions during the previous Angel engagement."

Hikari frowned. "What do you mean?"

Rei told Hikari of the exchange that had occurred between Shinji and Asuka before they went off to engage the latest Angel. The First Child recited their conversation word-for-word, further strengthening Hikari's suspicions that Rei had an eidetic memory.

By the time she was finished, Hikari was scowling darkly. "I'll talk to her, Rei," she pledged.

"Arigato," Rei said with a small bow. "You are better able to relate to her than I."

Hikari just nodded and sat down at her desk to wait for the other pilots. She was surprised that Shinji would so quickly jump straight from his usual, self-demeaning attitude to arrogance, but on reflection she guessed it wasn't that shocking. Really, how surprising was it that he'd gotten drunk of self confidence, being so unused to it and thus having so little tolerance for the stuff?

Several minutes later, Shinji and Asuka entered, the latter looking cheerful while the former seemed to be living under a dark cloud.

Hikari said good morning to them and then turned to Asuka. "Can I talk to you for a moment?" she asked.

"Sure," Asuka said with a grin.

The two stepped out into the hallway, not that there was much need for it, considering that Shinji immediately plopped down at his desk and started listening to his SDAT.

"The baka really showed why I'm the real top pilot yesterday," Asuka began, obviously very eager to share the events of yesterday with her friend.

"You goaded him," Hikari said flatly.

The Second Child blinked and recoiled slightly, caught entirely by surprise. "What?"

"Rei told me how you got him to take point in the battle," Hikari said, crossing her arms and fully entering class rep mode. "Asuka, I'm surprised you'd stoop to such a thing."

"Oh come on! I wasn't _trying_ to make him charge in there like an idiot!" Asuka protested defensively. "I was hoping he'd back down. It's not like he's totally innocent! He acted like an arrogant jerk!"

"Yeah, he did," Hikari agreed, "but he obviously feels bad about it. I've never seen him so miserable, and that's really saying something, believe me. But how could you not realize that could happen? He's a guy, Asuka! If you box him into a corner like that and threaten his pride, he'll do something macho and stupid! That's just the way guys work!"

Asuka realized she couldn't really argue that particular point, thinking back to how she'd gotten Shinji to agree to her little proposal on the anniversary of his mother's death.

"It's easy to forget," Asuka grumbled instead.

"What? That guys will react that way?" Hikari asked.

"That Shinji's a guy," Asuka replied.

"Asuka," Hikari said, narrowing her eyes. "I agree that Shinji needed to be taken down a peg, but you could have gotten him killed. Go apologize to him."

"What?!" Asuka screeched. "No way!"

The two girls glared at each other for several seconds, and didn't break the silent battle of wills until students began to file into the classroom in earnest and the warning bell rang.

"Fine," Hikari said with an annoyed sigh, realizing that the Second Child wasn't going to budge.

_Well, at least that trip to the mall was already shot,_ Hikari thought as she walked back into the classroom, recalling that the Twelfth Angel had consumed the shopping center, one of the buildings which couldn't retract into the Geofront.

* * *

While her sister was confronting the Second Child, Nozomi Horaki was wandering the schoolyard in search of a girl that was in her year but had never had been in her class.

She finally spotted her quarry sitting at a bench. Nozomi smiled, noticing that the other girl had a keychain that had a chibi Spirit doll on the end.

_Perfect,_ she thought, approaching her.

"Hi," Nozomi said. "So, you're a fan of Spirit, too?"

"Yeah," the girl answered with a smile. "You're…Nozomi Horaki, right?"

Nozomi nodded.

"I'm Mariko Suzuhara, but everyone calls me Mari," the girl replied. "And I've been a fan of Spirit's since before most people even knew about her. She saved me and my older brother during the first Angel battle!"

"Really?" Nozomi asked with wide eyes, pretending to be impressed.

"Yeah. The Angel exploded and she protected us with a shield of light," Mari said. "We even got to talk to her before she flew away. She seemed to like my brother."

Nozomi had to bite her lower lip to keep from laughing. Fortunately, Mari had gotten too into her retelling to notice.

"So," Nozomi said, "tell me about your brother…"

* * *

Author's Notes: All right, now we're getting to the real big bads among the Angels. And, of course, the naming of the Fourth Child. This is going to be interesting, I can promise you that. :)

Now, I'm aware that some of you didn't like the appearances of Ghost Rider and the Silver Surfer in the last chapter. Let me just reassure you that it won't be repeated. Even if I wanted to, I don't really have the mostly empty chunks of time in the plot for it any longer. The whole thing was just meant to be a fun little interlude anyway. So, if you really hated it, you can just pretend it never happened or something, as it that chapter had virtually zero impact on the overall plot of the story.

NefCanuck, Rei didn't really say that to Hikari. She just sort of whispered it to herself as she watch her leave. I probably should have been more clear on that point.

Konous the grey, maybe calling them love polygons doesn't do them justice, but it's been a damn long time since I took a geometry course! Anyway, on the issue of the other SOE stories, I had briefly kicked around the idea of doing Ritsuko's story, but then orionpax said he nearly had the first chapter for it ready. The series was his brainchild, so I had no desire to try and snatch one of the women from him. I probably wouldn't have done this one if he wasn't having trouble picking Hikari's power for a while. But he writes at a very fast clip, so I wouldn't worry too much.

Until next time, thanks to all my readers and reviewers.

* * *

Omakes

Litmus Test

"So what did you think of the movie, Rei?" Hikari asked as the trio of girls left the theater after having seen _My Sassy Girl._

"The acting and directing were both well done," Rei replied in an almost clinical tone. "However, I found the character Gyeon-woo to be unrealistically submissive in the way he unfailingly gave into the female lead's demands."

"Ah, there's nothing unrealistic about him, First," Asuka replied dismissively.

"I beg to differ," Rei said mildly.

"All right, then, Rei, how about we settle this with a bet?" Asuka suggested. "A thousand yen says he's realistic!"

"I believe the appropriate phrase is 'you're on, Soryu,'" Rei replied with a trace of a grin.

"Wait," Hikari spoke up, "I don't understand. How in the world do you intend to settle this?"

The two EVA pilots shared a look.

* * *

"Oh, come on!" Shinji shouted up at the movie screen in exasperation.

Fortunately, the theater was nearly empty, and the only patrons besides their little group were too busy necking to care about the Third Child's yelling.

"Are you really going to just keep taking that?!" Shinji continued to rant at Gyeon-woo. "Tell her to stop! Yell at her! Leave her! Do _something!"_

With a small smile on her face, Rei held her hand out to Asuka, palm upwards. Scowling angrily, the redhead pulled out several bills and gave them to the silently smug First Child.

* * *

Something Strange is Going on Here…

It was an ordinary, calm day for the Superwomen of Eva, and two of the members of the most exclusive girls only club in Tokyo-3 were relaxing in the group's secret headquarters.

Admittedly, their secret headquarters was just a vacant apartment in the same condemned apartment building that Rei Ayanami lived in, but it was the best they could do with their limited financial resources. They liked it, however, and despite the inherently decrepit state of the place, they were still constantly debating whether to call it the Bone Yard, the Spider's Web, the Silver Pad, the Beer Babes' Lair (guess who), the Iron Fortress, Level Four (even though it was on the third floor), or the Spirit Sanctum.

But that was neither here nor there. What was important was the conversation between the two women present.

"Dr. Akagi?" Hikari asked. "There's something I've been wondering about our transformations…"

"Okay, fine, I got lazy that day, all right?" Ritsuko grumbled, scowling. "I had no idea that dumping all that stuff into the lake would—"

"Huh? What are you talking about?" Hikari asked.

"…Nothing," Ritsuko said innocently. "So, what did you want to ask me?"

"Well," Hikari began, "I was wondering why our…assets got, uh, enhanced."

"Complaining?" Ritsuko asked with a smirk.

"Well, no," Hikari confessed, blushing slightly in embarrassment. "It's nice not to feel inadequate next to Asuka and Rei."

"Tell me about it," Ritsuko said. "It was so good to be able to shut Misato up for once."

"But I don't get why it happened," Hikari said. "I mean, it makes no sense at all when you think about it. We got our powers from Angelic DNA, and, in your case, spider DNA. But none of the Angels have breasts, not even Lilith. The Evangelions don't have breasts, either. And spiders also don't have breasts. So where did the genes for that come from?"

Ritsuko frowned. "You know, you have a point. It doesn't make any sense. It's almost as if…almost as if some person—or perhaps even person_s_—with some kind of god-like power over us, just happened to like the occasional bit of fan service…"

* * *

On the other side of the fourth wall, two fan fiction writers abruptly sneezed.

* * *

Hikari and Ritsuko exchanged a look.

"Naaah!" they decided simultaneously.


	16. Chapter 15

Disclaimer: Neon Genesis Evangelion is the creation of Anno and Gainax. I don't own it, make no claims to it, and am making no profit from the fan fiction. No infringement of copyright is intended. In other words, please don't sue.

* * *

Chapter Fifteen

While not what one would call a stick in the mud, Kodama Horaki really didn't have much of a sense of humor. If she was funny, it was more often than not unintentional, and it was quite a rare thing for her to burst out into laughter.

So the fact that she was all but rolling on the floor with uncontrollable giggles really said something.

"Okay, that's enough!" Hikari snapped at last, switching to full angry matron mode. "It's not that funny!"

"Oh, I think it's hilarious!" Kodama chuckled, though she was calming down, much to Hikari's relief. "You…you had to get Nozomi to spy for you…to find out that the way to a man's heart is through his stomach!"

With that, Kodama succumbed to a fresh gale of laughter, and Hikari gave her a deadly scowl. Even if Kodama had been able to see it through the tears of mirth in her eyes, the effect would have been ruined by Hikari's crimson cheeks.

"I didn't send her to spy for me!" Hikari protested. "She just did that on her own! In fact, I tried to stop her!"

In truth, though, Hikari was secretly quite grateful for the information Nozomi had skillfully extracted from Mari Suzuhara. She found the knowledge that no one ever really cooked for him to be very interesting indeed, even though she knew she didn't have the nerve to just hand him a bento box for no apparent reason one afternoon. Still, if an opportunity presented itself…

"The whole situation is just so…kawaii!" Kodama squealed. "My little sister Hikari is finally showing real interest in boys, and my little sister Nozomi is helping set her up! It's just so precious!"

"Enough!" Hikari barked. "I…I know where you sleep!"

The empty threat was almost enough to send Kodama into yet another laughing fit, but she suddenly remembered Hikari's inability to sleep for more than four hours a night.

_Do not meddle in the affairs of insomniacs,_ she thought, recalling something she'd seen on a bumper sticker once. _For they are cranky and can get you while you sleep._

That usually worked in her favor, but relative to Hikari, she was an easy sleeper.

Not that Kodama believed for a moment that Hikari would ever actually harm her in her sleep, but there were _plenty_ of merely embarrassing things a revenge-minded person could do to a sleeping victim, after all.

"All right, all right, fine," Kodama said, holding her hands up in a placating gesture. "I'm going up to my room. Call me when it's time for dinner."

Still smirking, Kodama headed up the stairs.

"I guess I shouldn't have mentioned it to her, huh?" Nozomi asked with a slight grimace.

"No, you shouldn't have," Hikari said sternly. "In fact, you shouldn't have gone poking into my personal affairs like that at all."

Just because Nozomi had managed to glean some potentially useful information, it didn't mean that Hikari was about to encourage the little girl's meddling. After all, who knew what disaster could occur if she tried it again?

"Gomen," Nozomi said, looking sullen.

Hikari sighed. "I do appreciate the effort, Nozomi-chan, really I do. But it's just not your business."

Nozomi nodded, looking less snubbed. "So, what's for dinner, nee-chan?"

* * *

"Well, it doesn't look like Shinji's little brush with disaster the other day has done too much damage," Ritsuko commented. "His sync ratio has remained stable. Even with the marginal increases in Asuka's score, he's still on top."

Misato sighed as she looked out at the test plugs. "Hopefully it'll do something to help rebuild his confidence."

Ritsuko considered reminding Misato what had happened the last time Shinji had become confident but decided against it. The boy really was in a slump, after all; you only had to look at him to realize that. Besides, she doubted that the knowledge that he was still on top in the harmonics scores would do much for his mood, anyway.

Misato didn't seem to be expecting much either, judging by her obviously lack of enthusiasm as she opened up the channel to the Unit One test plug. "Hey, Shinji-kun."

"Hi, Misato," Shinji replied.

"Good news," she said with forced cheerfulness. "You're still number one!"

"Yatta," Shinji said, obviously not feeling it.

"All right, the test is over," Ritsuko put in, informing all three pilots. "You're free to go."

The test plugs opened and the Children exited and made their way to their locker rooms to change.

_What is the good of being on top in the sync tests if I screw up in the real battles?_ Shinji wondered. _Nothing._ _Asuka was right._

The news that Shinji still had the best score might not have done anything for the Third Child's mood, but it certainly had an effect on that of the Second Child. It served as one more thing fueling her current sour demeanor.

But really, _everything_ about Shinji had been irritating Asuka lately. The fact that he still had the highest sync score was only a part of it. The way he'd been behaving like a kicked puppy for days, in what apparently only she could see was a pathetic means of getting people to feel sorry for him annoyed the hell out of her. The fact that he had allowed himself to become even more of a pushover than ever generated nothing but contempt in her. And that she _still_ owed the idiot for what had happened back at Mount Asuma utterly infuriated her.

_Everyone always coddles him,_ she thought bitterly. _Even Hikari took his side. _He_ was the one who acted like an idiot during the last engagement!_

"Asuka?"

The Second Child started, jolted from her thoughts by the quiet voice. She turned to see Rei, who had already finished changing into her regular clothes, regarding her curiously.

"Are you all right?" Rei asked in her usual soft voice. "You have been standing there staring at your locker for several minutes now."

"I'm fine!" Asuka snapped, then checked herself. "Sorry. I have a lot on my mind right now."

Rei nodded. She could guess what had Asuka in such a bad mood, but after Hikari's failure to make the Second Child realize that she was partially responsible for Shinji's foolish actions, Rei had no desire to bring up the subject and possibly get Asuka angry at her as well. "If you are all right, I will take my leave then. Good day."

"Bye, Rei," Asuka said and turned back to the task of dressing.

* * *

Nozomi Horaki had a dilemma.

Somehow, her older sister, who could confront potentially world destroying monsters without blinking, was too timid to approach a boy she liked. Nozomi just _knew_ that she could get the ball rolling between them, but her sister had quite specifically told her to butt out. Hence the problem.

_Let's see, if I do something, nee-chan will get mad at me, but it'll help her get together with this guy and she'll be happy,_ Nozomi thought, trying to estimate how angry Hikari would get and if it was worth it for her to interfere. Did she really want to be that selfless? To do a kind act that she knew would be repaid with anger?

The idea that she might blunder somehow never once occurred to her.

At that very moment, Hikari came into the kitchen carrying a bento box, which she placed in the fridge.

"Don't feel like eating lunch today?" Nozomi questioned.

"This is an extra. Almost all the recipes I have serve four, and Dad forgot to take his…again," Hikari said, a note of exasperation in her voice. "Hopefully somebody will eat it at some point. I'd hate for it to go to waste."

Nozomi grinned as Hikari left.

_Well, that's a sign from the kami if I ever saw one!_ Nozomi thought cheerfully as she took the bento and tucked it away safely in her school bag.

She somehow managed to not to start giggling as she and Hikari walked to school, instead keeping up the usual conversation between them. The moment they had parted ways at the school, Nozomi sought out Mari.

"Ohayo, Mari," Nozomi greeted her new friend cheerfully.

"Ohayo, Nozomi," Mari replied with a smile. "How are you?"

"I'm good, thanks," Nozomi said. "But I was wondering if you could do just a little favor for me?"

"What is it?" Mari asked.

Nozomi took out the bento box. "Give this to your brother and tell him it's from my sister Hikari."

A wicked grin sprouted on Mari's face, matching the one Nozomi was sporting exactly. "It would be my pleasure, Nozomi," she said, accepting the box.

* * *

_NERV-02  
__Nevada, USA_

"Today's the day that we finally remind the world that there are NERV branches outside of Japan," said Commander Summers, smiling as he pushed his red tinted glasses up his nose.

From her place behind him, a redheaded woman in a NERV uniform shook her head. "I still believe that we should do further testing before attempting to bring the Super Solenoid engine that Central obtained from the Fourth Angel online in Unit Four. We're playing with things we don't understand."

"You worry too much, Commander Grey," said a man in a white lab coat. "This test will go flawlessly. I guarantee it."

"With all due respect, Dr. Logan, I'm sure that a member of the Katsuragi Expedition said something similar before they poked the First Angel with a stick," Vice Commander Grey replied, narrowing her eyes.

Summers held up a hand to silence his two subordinates. "I admit that we've taken fewer precautions than I'd like, but the activation test must go on as planned," he said. "The Committee and the Security Council are both breathing down my neck, demanding results."

_Not to mention all the harassing I get from Ikari about it,_ he added silently. _Bastard thinks he's emperor of NERV or something._

"The experiment is scheduled to begin in two minutes," spoke Lieutenant Worthington, one of the Second Branch's bridge techs.

"Very well," said Summers, taking his seat. "Proceed."

"Rate of chemical reactions are increasing inside the S2 engine."

"Engine temperature is rising steadily, well within expected parameters."

"Bio-harmonics are nominal. Error margin is within 0.002."

Dr. Logan grinned confidently as he listened to the technicians spout techo-jargon as they gradually brought the S2 engine online, already picturing himself at the Nobel Prize presentation ceremony. Commander Summers just stared intently at the image of Unit Four on the main screen. The Vice Commander, a former scientist herself, glanced anxiously over Worthington's shoulder to look at his displays.

"The S2 engine should come on line in 3…2…" Worthington said.

Grey's eyes suddenly widened as she realized what had been niggling at her about this activation test for so long. "Abort the test!" she ordered. "Do it—!"

She was a second too late. The S2 engine embedded inside of Unit Four came online.

And then the world turned red.

* * *

Some of the escalators in the Geofront seemed like they went on forever, which usually annoyed Misato. At the moment, however, she was more than fine with this part of the base. It meant that Ritsuko couldn't really escape her as they rode down together, following a brief meeting concerning the bizarre disappearance of the Second Branch.

"So what about EVA Unit Three?" Misato asked.

"The First Branch was unaffected, so Unit Three is still intact," Ritsuko said. "The Americans are going to send it to us. I don't think they want it anymore."

"They insisted upon building Units Three and Four, but now they're dumping it on us? They've got a lot of nerve!" Misato said indignantly.

"After the tragedy that occurred today, I can't honestly blame them," Ritsuko said softly.

"Will you use the Dummy Plug for the activation test?" Misato asked.

"I'll decide soon," Ritsuko replied.

The two women fell silent after that. Once they finally reached the bottom of the escalator, Ritsuko gave Misato a polite bow before quickly walking off, looking to avoid further questions. Such dodges and escapes had become far too frequent for her ever since the Angels had returned.

With a sigh, she reached a pair of elevators and slid her ID card into the reader. Instantly, one of the elevator's doors opened and Ritsuko stepped inside, heading for Terminal Dogma, home to the darkest and most dangerous secrets within NERV.

After several minutes of descending down the incredibly long elevator shaft, Ritsuko finally came to her destination. It was an enormous room, which had only two rows of fairly small lights along the ceiling. They had slightly more effect than the glow of a cigarette would inside an empty and otherwise pitch dark warehouse.

Almost the moment she stepped out of the elevator car, Gendo Ikari emerged from the shadows like a wraith. "Dr. Akagi," he said in terse acknowledgement.

Ritsuko forced herself not to scowl too openly. Though there was no concrete proof of it, Gendo attributed Spirit's powers to the dumping of the EVA sedative and LCL mixture she had foolishly done. As the girl grew to be a greater and greater pain in NERV's side, Gendo's irritation with the Project-E chairperson had increased proportionately.

The worst part was that she really couldn't honestly disagree with his assessment that her blunder was far and away the most likely responsible for Spirit.

"This is a prototype Dummy Plug," Ritsuko said, gesturing to a red plug that was suspended from the ceiling by a pair of enormous clamps. "We've transferred what we could from Rei, but the human mind cannot be digitized. This is nothing but a fake that mimics the pilot's signal."

"It transmits a signal to EVA and tricks it into activating," Gendo said. "That's all that is necessary. Install the data into Units One and Two."

"Sir, there are still problems to be worked out," Ritsuko warned, afraid that he would activate the Dummy Plugs before they were ready and make her work look like a joke.

"Do it. It's sufficient," Gendo commanded in a voice that brooked no argument.

"Yes, sir," Ritsuko said.

Gendo gestured, and Ritsuko fell in step behind him as he headed for one of her least favorite parts of NERV: the upload room. Within it, Rei Ayanami floated in a tube of LCL that was connected to a large supercomputer core, which was similar to the MAGI in that it was capable of making imprints of a person's memory and personality.

"The UN is handling the transport of Unit Three," Gendo said to Ritsuko as he gazed up at the naked girl inside the tube. "It should arrive this weekend. I want you to handle the activation test."

"Yes, sir," Ritsuko said. "I'll handle the activation at the Matsushiro facility."

"And the test pilot?" Gendo asked.

"The Dummy Plug is still dangerous," Ritsuko said. "One of our pilot candidates will be…"

"Chosen as the Fourth," Gendo finished.

"Yes, sir," Ritsuko agreed. "There's one child whose core can be ready immediately."

"Then make it so," Gendo replied.

Ritsuko cleared her throat nervously. "Actually, sir, I think you need to know the candidate's identity," she said, handing Gendo a folder.

Most people wouldn't have detected the trace annoyance displayed in Gendo's movements, but Ritsuko knew the Commander better than anyone save Fuyutski. But irritated or not, he took the folder and looked inside.

"Him?!" Gendo exclaimed, showing greater surprise than he had in years.

"I'm afraid so, sir," Ritsuko said, trying not to cringe.

"Can't you get someone else to be the Fourth Child?" Gendo asked.

"Certainly, but selecting a different child would result in having to delay the activation test," Ritsuko said. "This boy is well suited for the personal data pattern that's currently loaded into Unit Three. We'd have to write a new RAM for a different pilot."

Gendo inhaled deeply through his nose, forcing his anger and frustration to subside. He could afford to show no weakness to SEELE, not after the Eleventh Angel had invaded headquarters. Not with Spirit still out of his grasp.

_Perhaps this could even be fortuitous,_ he mused. _He will refuse to act against Spirit, but so would most of the candidates, thanks to the popularity she has acquired._ _People will draw connections where none exist. It will be an excellent red herring to distract the spies SEELE has within NERV._

"Very well, you may appoint Suzuhara the Fourth," Gendo said at last.

Neither the scientist nor the commander noticed Rei's eyes shoot wide open before she caught herself and closed them again.

* * *

"Hey, class rep…Hikari-san," Toji said, approaching the pig-tailed girl as everyone was packing up to go home.

"Uh, what is it, Suzuhara?" Hikari asked, his use of her name causing her to forget everything else for the moment.

"I, uh, wanted to return this to you," he said, holding out an empty bento box, one which Hikari immediately recognized.

_Nozomi!_ She thought, instantly figuring out how it had come to be in Toji's possession. _I'll kill her! I specifically told her _not_ to do this kind of thing!_

"A-Arigato," Hikari said, taking the box.

"Um, I also wanted to thank you for lunch," Toji said, rubbing the back of his neck nervously. "I usually buy food from the school store, so it was a real treat."

"You're welcome, Suzuhara," Hikari said, barely able to contain the sudden swell of excitement. She hesitated for a moment, then decided to plow forward. "You know, I often have extra food. There are a lot of recipes that serve four, but I only have three to cook for. If…if you'd like, I could bring you the extra. I wouldn't want it to go to waste, after all."

"That…uh, that would be great, Hikari-san," Toji said. "I'd be glad to help."

"All right," Hikari said with a smile.

"Well, I'll see you tomorrow, then," Toji said, bowing politely. "Sayonara."

_Okay, so maybe I'll just _maim_ Nozomi,_ she thought with a grin as she watched Toji leave the classroom, feeling thrilled that she had finally, finally managed to get his attention with something that _Hikari_ did. After all, it wasn't Spirit who cooked.

The image of herself bustling about the kitchen in her costume and with her wings out suddenly appeared in her head, and Hikari almost laughed out loud at the idea.

Then she remembered what she'd been thinking before he had approached her and groaned. _I forgot to tell him to take Rei's printouts to her!_

She nearly ran after him to do just that, then decided against it, feeling an irrational fear that she would somehow ruin the progress she'd just made if she did. Besides, she hadn't really spoken to Rei in a while and she didn't have to walk Nozomi home, since her little sister was going to visit a friend after school.

_I wonder if she planned that in order to be out of my reach when I found out what she'd done?_ Hikari mused. _Probably._

With a sigh, Hikari picked up her bag and headed out of the classroom.

* * *

"So, what are you so busy with?" Misato asked as she leaned against Ritsuko's desk.

"I'm making the arrangements for the Unit Three activation test at Matsushiro," Ritsuko answered, idly wondering why Misato tended to hang out in her office. "We're going to conduct the test using the Fourth Child."

"The Fourth Child's been found?" Misato asked, immediately turning to look at the bottle blonde.

"Yesterday," Ritsuko said.

The Ops Director's eyes narrowed in suspicion. "I haven't received a report from the Marduk Institute yet."

"The official documents will arrive tomorrow," Ritsuko answered evenly.

"Are you keeping secrets from me again?" Misato demanded.

Ritsuko didn't even bother denying the fact that she'd kept secrets from Misato before. "Of course not," she lied.

"Fine," Misato sighed. "So who is it?"

She looked over Ritsuko's shoulder at her computer screen, then recoiled in shock after she saw the name. "Him?! Are you serious?"

"There's no one else," Ritsuko answered.

"Oh, sure, and this has nothing to do with capturing Spirit, right?" Misato asked sarcastically. "Hasn't NERV screwed with that boy's life enough already?"

"I'm sure I don't know what you're talking about," Ritsuko said.

Inwardly, the scientist sighed. How many lies had she managed to get her old friend to accept since the Angels had started coming? But now Misato would never believe that Suzuhara's selection had been coincidental, even though that was the truth. The irony might have even been funny under more auspicious circumstances.

"Of course not," Misato growled before she turned and left the scientist's office without so much as a good-bye.

_There's not a chance in hell this isn't involved with Spirit somehow,_ Misato thought angrily as she stomped through the halls.

She knew there was no chance of Ritsuko telling her what was going on, which meant that she just had to hope that Kaji knew something.

* * *

"Rei?" Hikari called, knocking on the door to Ayanami's grungy apartment. "Are you home? It's me, Hikari."

She heard someone approaching and turned, seeing Rei drawing near. "Hello, Hikari," the blue haired girl said.

"I brought you your printouts," Hikari said, holding up the small stack of papers.

"Arigato," Rei said, accepting the papers. "Please, come in. There is something I must tell you."

Hikari nodded and Rei opened her door, gesturing for the class rep to enter.

The place was in somewhat better condition than Hikari remembered, though that wasn't saying terribly much. Garbage was no longer scattered on the floor, and the mailbox wasn't overflowing with neglected junk mail any longer. Rei had also tried to decorate the place a bit, but the way she'd done it would make people think she was schizophrenic. A picture of Mount Fuji was hung on one wall, and a Hello Kitty figurine stood on her bedside table. Her plain alarm clock had been replaced by one that looked like a Gundam, and a bright green bed skirt had been placed under her mattress.

Really, the only thing that looked like it belonged was the small trophy Rei had won at one of the school swim meets, which sat atop her dresser. Hikari realized she couldn't remember if she'd ever congratulated Rei on that win; her life had just become too crazy of late. Considering that she had been the one to encourage Rei to compete, Hikari fervently hoped she had.

"So, what did you want to tell me, Rei?" Hikari asked.

"NERV will soon be receiving Evangelion Unit Three from the United States," Rei said. "It has been decided that Toji Suzuhara will be named the pilot."

Hikari's eyes widened, the lingering joy and excitement from the events of earlier that day rapidly draining away and leaving her feeling cold. "W-Why?" she asked.

"He was the most suitable candidate," Rei answered. "As improbable as it may seem, his selection was coincidental. The Commander did not even wish for him to become the Fourth Child, but he had no choice."

"So it's not another trap?" Hikari asked, feeling her panic starting to ebb. "They're not going to put him in danger to try and get to me?"

"No," Rei answered.

"All right, good," Hikari said. "At least there's that. Thank you for telling me this, Rei."

"I thought you should know," Rei said.

She wondered if she should also tell Hikari that the Commander was spending a lot of time in the secret laboratories within Terminal Dogma and that nobody—not Fuyutski, not Akagi, nor she herself—knew the reason for it.

In the end, Rei opted not to mention it. She didn't know Commander Ikari's reasons for venturing down there so frequently, so telling Hikari about it would just serve to worry her.

"You'll look after him, won't you?" Hikari asked, pulling Rei from her thoughts.

Rei nodded. "As will you, I expect," she said with a tiny grin.

Hikari smiled. "Arigato, Rei," she said. "So, how have you been doing?"

"All right," Rei said, then glanced around her room. "However, my attempts at redecorating have failed to create the kind of…welcoming atmosphere I desired."

"Uh, Rei, did you just buy things randomly?" Hikari asked.

"Essentially," Rei confessed.

"That's part of your problem, I think," Hikari said. "This place doesn't feel…you. I doesn't really feel like anything because it's such a mishmash. Take the Hello Kitty and the Gundam clock. Do you like Hello Kitty or Gundam?"

"No," Rei said.

"And this bed skirt," Hikari added, touching it with her foot, failing to notice how Rei tensed when she drew near the space beneath her bed. "I don't think green is really your color, Rei."

"I do…prefer blue," Rei admitted.

"You should only have stuff that you like in your room, Rei," Hikari advised. "Things that have sentimental value, things that are useful, or just…things you think are cool."

"I see," Rei said. "I believe I understand better now. Thank you."

"Oh, it's no trouble at all," Hikari said. "Well, I have to get home and start dinner, so I'll see you at school tomorrow, all right?"

"One final thing," Rei said. "I wish to apologize. I should not have asked you to speak with Asuka in my place. You would not be estranged right now if I had done so instead."

Hikari shook her head and sighed. "Don't worry about it, Rei. I understand why you did it. It's probably better than having her mad at you, anyway. After all, I don't work with her."

Rei nodded. "I am glad you understand."

* * *

"What are you doing?" Misato demanded as she stormed into the small lounge full of vending machines.

Kaji immediately backed away from a very nervous looking Maya Ibuki, who mumbled something inaudible to Misato, clearly embarrassed. She quickly backed away from the scene and then seemingly disappeared a moment later, as if she could simply vanish from sight.

Not that the Major or the Special Inspector were paying her very much attention at the moment anyway, though.

"I'm not doing anything," Kaji answered with a smirk.

"Of course not," Misato scoffed. "Don't seduce the women around here, Kaji, especially not the innocent ones like Maya."

"You don't even want me to seduce you?" the spy asked, eyes twinkling with amusement.

"That depends on the answer you give me," Misato replied. "You know the secrets of the Marduk Institute, don't you?"

"What?" Kaji asked with a confused frown.

"Don't play dumb with me," Misato snapped. "I know you know more than you're letting on."

"I'm surprised that you're coming to me, Misato," Kaji commented.

"The Fourth Child was found," Misato said. "He's the same boy that NERV kidnapped and held hostage months ago to lure Spirit into a trap. There's no way this is a coincidence."

"Well, I don't know anything about that," Kaji said truthfully, "but I'll tell you one thing."

He stood and got very close to her, so that to anyone who got a quick glance at them, they would seem to be necking. "The Marduk Institute doesn't exist," he said softly. "It's NERV pulling the strings."

"NERV…in this case, that means Commander Ikari," Misato said. "Why am I not surprised?"

* * *

"Hey, Ikari!"

Shinji stiffened at the sound of the familiar voice as it rang across the schoolyard, demanding his attention. He briefly considered making a run for it. It was the end of the school day, after all, so he wouldn't even get in trouble for bolting. But then he realized that if Suzuhara really wanted another confrontation, he couldn't avoid it forever. Besides, the guy was a jock; he could doubtlessly run faster than Shinji.

Reluctantly, the Third Child turned to face the boy that he had been doing a very good job of avoiding until now.

"Hello, Suzuhara-san," Shinji said with a small bow, wondering what the guy could possibly want with him after so many months.

A small smirk appeared on the Osaka boy's face as he drew nearer. "Just Toji is fine, Ikari."

"Uh, sure, then you can call me Shinji," the Third Child said automatically.

Toji sighed. "Look, I want to apologize for the way I got into your face when you first came here," he said. "I was still shaken about what nearly happened to me and my sister, but there was no need for what I did. No harm, no foul and everything."

Shinji blinked, shocked that Toji would apologize to him after all this time. "Oh, that's all right. I'd almost forgotten about it, anyway," he lied.

Toji's eyes narrowed slightly. "You don't know yet, do you?"

"Know what?" Shinji asked, frowning in confusion.

"I'm the Fourth Child," Toji replied. "That's why I was called into the principal's office today."

Shinji's eyes widened. He'd heard about the disaster that had occurred at the Second Branch the previous day and that Unit Three was being shipped to Japan, but he'd had no idea that NERV had found the Fourth Child already, let alone that it was someone he knew.

"Yeah," Toji said. "I figured that I should try and get to know the other pilots, since I am going to be working with you guys soon. I _am_ sorry about yelling at you before. I didn't just say that because I have to work with you now."

He left it unsaid that he had gone to Shinji first because the Third Child seemed by far the most approachable of the three other pilots to him.

"Oh, I didn't think that you were insincere or anything," Shinji quickly reassured the new pilot.

The son of Gendo Ikari he might be, but Shinji didn't automatically look for nefarious ulterior motives behind everyone's actions, just his father's.

Toji nodded. "Hey, Shinji, I have clean up duty today, but tomorrow me and Kensuke are planning to hit the arcade after school. You want in?"

"Huh? Oh…oh sure!" Shinji said, smiling for the first time since the nearly disastrous battle against the Twelfth Angel.

Toji grinned. "All right, I'll see you then, Shinji. Bye."

* * *

For the next few days, things proceeded smoothly. Shinji finally had some male friends, and Toji and Kensuke began joining him, Hikari, and Rei at lunch. This arrangement made it significantly easier for the class rep to give the jock the bento boxes she made for him. Hikari and Asuka even managed to patch up their friendship, albeit through an unspoken agreement not to bring up what had occurred during the battle against the Twelfth Angel.

However, the feeling of waiting for the other shoe to drop was undeniable as the activation test drew nearer. And when the day finally arrived, Toji's absence in class was very conspicuous.

"Worried about Toji?" Shinji asked Hikari during lunch, once he somehow managed to grab a moment alone with her.

"Wh-What?" Hikari sputtered, before grimacing. "So you know?"

"It's pretty obvious. After all, you never made _me_ lunch," Shinji observed with good humor. "I think the only one that hasn't caught on yet is Toji. Maybe Kensuke, too. I won't say anything if you don't want me to, though."

"Arigato," Hikari said. "And yes, I guess I am worried. After all, you've told me how Unit Zero went berserk during those tests, and how Unit One did the same during your first battle."

"I'm a little worried, too," Shinji confessed. "Toji's become a good friend. But everything should be fine. Unit Three is a production model like Asuka's Unit Two, and Unit Two has never gone berserk."

Hikari nodded, grateful for the words of reassurance. "You know, Shinji, you've changed a lot from when I first met you," she commented.

"I have?" he asked.

"Yeah. I guess you're just not as deeply in your shell anymore," Hikari said. "It's a good change."

"A-Arigato," Shinji said, blushing slightly.

Hikari was about to say something else, but she was cut off by a familiar and extremely unwelcome tingling in the back of her mind.

_Oh no! Not now!_ She thought, feeling as though her blood had changed into ice water in her veins.

She just _knew_ that it was no coincidence that an Angel appeared during the activation test. Toji was in danger, of that she was sure.

"Are you all right, Hikari?" Shinji asked with a concerned frown. "You look a little pale all of sudden."

"I feel fine, Shinji," she lied.

It took forever for the pilots' cell phones to ring.

* * *

"The target is approaching Mount Nobe," Aoba reported, cutting into the tense silence in the command center. "It should enter visual range in ten seconds."

The assembled group of officers and technicians watched the main screen anxiously as the form of humanity's new enemy slowly emerged from behind the mountain. They all gasped in surprise as the form of Evangelion Unit Three came into view.

Well, almost all of them.

"It is as we feared," Gendo said softly. Then, in a louder voice, added, "Eject the entry plug and send the termination codes."

"Roger!" the three top technicians replied crisply, getting to work.

A series of small, carefully placed charges detonated and blew off the section of the armor that covered the entry plug. Small jets inside the plug fired, trying to send it flying out of the EVA, but a web of purplish gray goo kept it from moving more than a few meters upwards before slowly sinking back into place.

The EVA itself didn't even appear to notice that NERV had done anything. It continued to clomp forwards, seemingly as inexorable as death itself.

"Sir, we can't eject the plug, and the termination codes are being rejected," Maya reported, a distinct note of fear present in her voice.

"Then we must accept the loss of Evangelion Unit Three and its pilot," Gendo said. "Designate the EVA the Thirteenth Angel."

"B-But, sir…" Makoto protested weakly.

"Do it," Gendo hissed, ignoring the appalled looks he was getting from nearly everyone present.

"Yes, sir," Makoto said, performing the necessary change. Suddenly, he noticed something flashing on his display. "Sir! Red/blue pattern detected! Heading for the target!"

The sense of relief on the bridge was almost palpable. Surely, everyone thought, Spirit could rescue the pilot of Unit Three; the quick, relatively tiny heroine would have little difficultly getting to the entry plug and freeing Suzuhara.

It sickened Gendo. Both the adulation that the meddlesome brat received and that his subordinates would be so stupid as to believe that the Thirteenth Angel would surrender its hostage so easily.

"All EVA Units are to hold back until I give the order," he commanded.

"WHAT?!" Asuka shrieked loudly enough that everyone in the command center winced.

"This is an order," Gendo said coldly. "Disobey and I will find a new pilot for Unit Two."

The Second Child immediately fell silent.

"Ikari, what are you doing?" Fuyutski whispered. "We can't allow the girl to steal another victory from us. SEELE is already—"

"The odds of Spirit successfully rescuing the pilot are virtually nil," Gendo said confidently. "She will either be killed trying to rescue the Fourth Child or destroy both the Angel and the pilot. If it's the former, we'll be rid of her interference at last. If it's the latter, her reputation will take a huge hit, and we will have little difficulty convincing everyone, including the old men, that only we can and should handle the Angels."

"You're playing a dangerous game, Ikari," Fuyutski cautioned.

"I have been doing so for over fourteen years, Sensei," Gendo replied coolly.

* * *

"_That's_ the Angel?!" Spirit exclaimed, looking in horror at the dark form of Evangelion Unit Three.

With what she had been told the Eleventh Angel had been like, she supposed it shouldn't have been an enormous surprise that an Angel could possess an Evangelion. Still, it frightened her on a visceral level that the Angels could turn something that humanity had made to protect themselves against them.

And that wasn't even mentioning the fear she felt for Toji, whom she had little doubt was still trapped inside.

"Okay, you monster, now you've gone way too far," she said, a dark scowl forming on her face. "First I'm going to rescue Toji, then I'm going to blow you to pieces!"

With that vow, she flew straight toward the Angel as fast her wings would take her.

_At least since this thing is mostly still an EVA, I know what it's capable of,_ Spirit thought as she closed the distance between herself and her enemy.

As though punishing her for tempting fate, the Angel abruptly lashed out at her, its arm elongating impossibly to allow it to hit her from what would be far outside of the range of a normal Evangelion. The monster's armored palm struck her, the force of the blow easily breaking bones and crumpling her wings like they were made from tin foil. Spirit screamed in agony as she went spiraling downwards.

She landed in a thickly forested area, where several tree branches "cushioned" her fall, slowing her down to a less bone-shattering velocity before she hit the hard ground.

_They _always_ have to have some nasty surprise up their sleeves, don't they?_ Spirit thought as her body began to rapidly repair itself.

The Thirteenth Angel threw back its head and roared, a horrible, unnatural sound that sent a chill up and down her spine. Then, it charged, rounding on its prey. Spirit looked up, seeing the bottom of its enormous, armored foot hovering over her, ready to crush her like an insect.

She struggled to move, but her body was still too battered. Not even she could shrug off the blow she'd taken so quickly.

_Damn it! Not like this!_ Spirit thought, staring up in horror, nothing else seeming to exist besides the massive foot that would be her doom.

The massive form of Unit One suddenly slammed into the rogue Evangelion, tackling it to the ground with enough force to shake the earth beneath Spirit, but keeping it from crushing her into paste and feathers.

"Shinji?" Spirit wondered, managing to slowly sit up as her injuries healed.

The two huge war machines were grappling furiously as they rolled around on the ground, crushing great patches of woodlands into splinters beneath their massive weight without either even noticing it.

Spirit was finally able to get back on her feet and then into the air again, flying high above the black and purple titans. Even if Toji wasn't inside Unit Three, she couldn't fire a cross blast without the risk of hitting Unit One. And she had no chance of getting to Toji's entry plug as the two Evangelions rolled around.

Getting on top, the Angel managed to pull one of its arms free, and it slammed its fist into Unit One's head section. Unit One's grip on the Angel's other limbs loosened, and the dark EVA leapt to its feet.

White light immediately formed in Spirit's palm, but she checked herself before letting a cross blast fly.

_Toji…_

She could kill him if she attacked the Angel, but if she didn't, the Angel might kill Shinji, and Toji could _still_ die.

_What do I _do_?_ She wondered in dismay.

The Angel's arms shot out, stretching again as its fists sailed downward, straight toward Unit One's head.

Unit One rolled out of the way and then leapt back to its feet. The Evangelion test type leapt at the Angel, throwing its arms around it and squeezing it in a bear hug. The Angel snarled and roared furiously as it struggled against the purple EVA's hold, practically nose-to-nose with Unit One.

"Spirit!" Shinji yelled over EVA's external speakers. "I'll hold it! Get the pilot out!"

"Right!" she called back, even though she knew Shinji probably couldn't her.

Spirit flew around to Unit Three's back, easily finding the place where the armor was missing and spotting the entry plug.

"Eww," she groaned as she landed on the EVA's back, seeing the web of gunk that trapped the entry plug. "What is this stuff?"

The Angel didn't bother to explain, so Spirit grabbed a strand of the ooze that was right above the plug, intending to break it. She pulled…and found that the stuff would just not give. She might as well try to rip a steel chain in two while she was in her human form.

Scowling, she decided to try to crack open the plug and pull Toji out through the gaps in the web of gray stuff. Unfortunately, she found that her hands were now firmly stuck to the string of gunk. She looked down at it in annoyance, then her eyes widened when she saw that the stuff was growing, spreading itself around her hands!

"What the hell?!" she exclaimed, pulling frantically as the ooze continued to spread.

She instinctively tried to take a step back, only to find that more of it had grown onto her feet and trapped her legs as well. Spirit lost her balance, wobbled for a few seconds, and then fell down on her face, sprawled out over the top of the plug.

The gray gunk practically pounced on her, spreading with terrifying speed over her body.

"No!" Spirit shrieked, flapping her wings as hard as she could in an attempt to escape.

It was no good. She couldn't pull herself out, and the stuff had soon spread to her wings as well, pinning them down with the rest of her.

The only thing she hadn't tried was a cross-blast, but the palms of her hands were pressed against the top of the plug. If she used one of her energy attacks, the blast would go straight into the plug and utterly annihilate Toji.

_Can't do that, then,_ was her final thought before the ooze covered her face and the world went black.

* * *

Author's Notes: The end.

…Okay, no, I think you'll all agree that would be about the worst ending ever. But how will our intrepid young heroine escape from this? Will the three stooges be reduced to two so soon after finally becoming friends? You'll just have to wait until next chapter to find out.

I'll try and have it out soon. I'm well aware of how evil I'm being, but I just couldn't resist and this felt like a good point to end the chapter.

Anyway, I'm sure a few of you are wondering why Toji climbed into Unit Three even though Mari is uninjured. His motivations will be explained next chapter, but for now, I'd just like to point out that Toji didn't get a front row seat to watch Shinji freak out and then break down against the Fourth Angel like he was in the series. The Toji in this story doesn't understand what it means to be an EVA pilot nearly as well as the one in the series did. Hence, it wouldn't take as much to get him to pilot.

Also, I hope I didn't disappoint anybody with Nozomi's bits. I kind of got the impression that some of you were expecting something more elaborate from her, but I had never really planned for that.

By the way, did any of the Marvel Comics fans reading this notice the little Easter egg I put in this chapter? If so, how long did it take you to notice?

Ryousanki, indeed there was a pattern going on for a while, but, as you can see, it was finally broken here.

Quatermass, dare I ask what your bizarre idea is?

Konous the grey, sadly, losing the part where Unit One goes berserk and bursts out of the Twelfth Angel was a necessary evil. I agree it was an extremely cool scene, but Unit One only goes berserk in order to allow Shinji to escape from otherwise Certain Doom™. With Spirit preventing it from coming to that, Yui keeps quiet.

Kenzie, I happen to like Asuka, too, in spite of all her flaws. However, I've found that it is very hard to plausibly prevent or halt her downward spiral (and the accompanying increased bitchiness) without some massive alterations to the plot, especially if she's not the main character and the fic isn't Shinji/Asuka.

* * *

Omakes

Must've Taken a Wrong Turn

In a large penthouse that contained more cats than Ritsuko Akagi's apartment, a tall man got dressed for the night ahead of him. His attire consisted of a dark suit, red tie, a fedora…and a domino mask.

"My city screams," he said as he exited through his window and began to jump from rooftop to rooftop.

"She is my mother," he continued, "she is my lover…and I am—"

"Seriously in the wrong place!"

"Blah!" the man exclaimed, stopping short before he ran into the winged girl that had abruptly appeared in front of him. "Who're _you?_"

"I'm Spirit," the girl said indignantly, placing her hands on her hips. "And like I said, you're really in the wrong place."

"What? No, I'm not," the man protested. "Look, I know this isn't Central City, but the title of this thing—"

"Is 'Super_women_ of Eva: Spirit'!" the winged girl snapped. "I can understand the mix up, but you really don't belong here."

"Oh," the man said, looking crestfallen. "Hey, I don't suppose…"

"No way," Spirit said flatly. "You're an actual comic book hero, _and_ you have a movie coming out soon. I'm a supporting character from an anime that was made in the 90's! This might be the longest Hikari-centric fanfic ever that doesn't involve me having sex with Shinji Ikari, so there's no way I'm letting you horn in on the action! Now shoo!"

"Meanie," the man grumbled petulantly before disappearing into the night.

(A/N: Not being Will Eisner, I don't own The Spirit.)

* * *

Can You Guess?

The Thunderwing streaked through the sky as Spirit and Magical Girl Nozomi raced toward Commander Iceblock's fortress to rescue Toji Suzuhara.

One might wonder why a heroine that could fly would use an aircraft. The answer was that the jet could make more of an entrance than Spirit and Magical Girl Nozomi alone could.

Unfortunately, this was usually a double edged sword.

"MGN, slow down!" Spirit screamed as the Thunderwing careened toward the ice fortress.

"I can't!" Magical Girl Nozomi screamed as she desperately pulled on the flight stick.

The mighty aircraft crashed straight through the wall of Commander Iceblock's imposing fortress. Moments later, Spirit and Magical Girl Nozomi came stumbling out, both of them wobbling on their feet.

"You know, MGN, you really need to work on your landings," Spirit slurred.

"Sure thing, S," Magical Girl Nozomi agreed while she watched all the pretty stars.

"Well, that's one way to present yourselves."

Both girls immediately cleared away the cobwebs and turned to look at Commander Iceblock. Magical Girl Nozomi growled softly as she glared at the master of all things cold and bastardly.

Spirit threw a small canister to the ground, creating a burst of white smoke. "I am the Spirit that flaps—!"

"I know who you are!" Commander Iceblock snapped, firing one of his deadly freeze beams from his hand.

"Blah!" Spirit exclaimed, then laughed when she dodged it. "Ha! Your devious and diabolical designs will always be defeated by our daring duo!"

"Yeah!" Magical Girl Nozomi exclaimed.

Commander Iceblock just shot another freeze beam, which Spirit deftly avoided. Spirit responded by pulling a strange looking gun out of seemingly nowhere.

"Suck gas, evil doer!" she shouted, pulling the trigger.

Hikari suddenly jolted awake. "Again?" she groaned. "Okay, no more watching Darkwing Duck at night, either. In fact, no more weird Western superhero shows at all!"


	17. Chapter 16

Disclaimer: Neon Genesis Evangelion is the creation of Anno and Gainax. I don't own it, make no claims to it, and am making no profit from the fan fiction. No infringement of copyright is intended. In other words, please don't sue.

* * *

Chapter Sixteen

Spirit's mind felt fogged and slow as her crimson eyes slowly drifted open, and for several seconds her surroundings didn't strike her as being the least bit unusual.

Then she realized that the seemingly endless ocean of amber liquid she was hovering right above simply wasn't normal. Nor were the four, fiery wings in the distance that were rising up toward the heavens.

_Where am I?_ She wondered, staring at the wings. _How did I get here?_

"Hello."

Spirit snapped her gaze away from the wings, and came face to face with…Hikari.

Her alter ego was about two meters away from her, standing knee-deep in the amber liquid and wearing her usual white and green school uniform. A mask was on her face, but it wasn't the red one that Spirit herself usually wore. It looked like the gold one that she'd pilfered from Kodama and worn when she went out in search of Mari.

"Who're you?" Spirit demanded.

Hikari smiled, and Spirit shivered at the sight. She didn't know her face was capable of looking that sinister. "I'm you."

"No, you're not!" Spirit snapped. "I'm me!"

Hikari apparently found this assertion amusing, and her smile widened. Somehow, it didn't make her look the slightest bit more pleasant, just the opposite, in fact.

A grainy, fragmented memory suddenly came to Spirit. She remembered that she had been fighting an Angel and had landed on its back for…some reason, just before it had captured and then covered her in some kind of ooze.

"You're an Angel, aren't you?" Spirit asked.

Hikari threw back her head and laughed. "Clever lilin! There's no fooling you, is there?" she asked. "Yes, I am one of the beings your kind calls the Angels."

Some part of Spirit knew that this situation should be sending her into hysterics, but her thoughts were thick and sluggish inside her head, almost as if she were half asleep. She just felt like she didn't quite have the energy to get worked up at the moment.

"Why does your kind attack us?" Spirit asked. "Why do you want to kill us?"

The Angel shook its head, looking like a teacher that was deeply disappointed in a student's inability to grasp a very basic concept. "We do not seek to kill you, we seek to free you."

"Free us?" Spirit asked with a frown. "From what?"

"Loneliness," the Angel answered at once. "The unrelenting, inescapable pain caused by being alone. By having an impenetrable wall separating everyone's souls."

Spirit pinched the bridge of her nose, finding the concepts the Angel spoke of difficult to comprehend with her brain stuck in neutral.

"Why are you wearing a mask?" she blurted out suddenly, not knowing why she'd asked.

This time the Angel looked very pleased, as if she'd just asked a brilliant question. The Hikari look-alike smiled. "Because you almost always are."

"What?" Spirit asked with a confused frown. "I only wear a mask when I go out as Spirit."

The Angel chuckled. Despite the emptiness of their surroundings, the sound echoed for several seconds. "Are all lilin so literal minded?" she asked. "The mask you wear now is only one of the many you possess."

"What do you mean?" Spirit asked.

"The class rep, the matron," the Angel replied. "You find it difficult to interact with people as yourself, so you create false identities. That way, if they don't like you, you don't feel poorly about it, because it's not really you they dislike."

"That isn't true," Spirit protested, but her voice lacked any real conviction.

"It _is_ true," the Angel insisted. "How often did you speak with others at school before you became a class rep?"

Spirit didn't answer, and the Angel grinned triumphantly.

"Even with those you love, you feel awkward being yourself," the Angel pressed. "You withdraw behind your identity as the stern matron whenever you grow uncomfortable, using it and a wooden spoon as your shield."

"I've behaved like that a lot less around my sisters," Spirit said defensively.

"Only because it wasn't an option, not while discussing your activities as Spirit," the Angel replied smoothly. "The only difference between Spirit and your other masks is that no one will associate what you do as Spirit with your other identities, and that Spirit's mask came with no expectations. _You_ got to set Spirit's behavioral parameters, so you decided she would do all that you wished to do but felt you could not, not as yourself."

Spirit said nothing.

"Don't you see that this is a wretched state of affairs?" the Angel pressed, almost pleading with her. "Your _entire_ species lives in similar misery, but you and I can end all this, half-sister. We can end it right now."

"Half-sister?"

"Yes," the Angel nodded. "Though you are a daughter of Lilith, you have been blessed with the power of Adam. Together we can end the world of the AT field."

"End the world of the AT field?" Spirit echoed, her mind feeling increasingly sluggish as she listened to the Angel.

"Yes. Tear down the walls separating everyone's souls, so we can become one with them," the Angel said. "You will enjoy being one with everyone. No longer will you need your mask, or feel loneliness, or be unable to communicate. It is very…comfortable."

Spirit's eyes had glazed over by now. She didn't respond.

"All you need do is release your soul," the Angel whispered. "Don't you wish to become one with those you love? With your sisters and father?"

"Yes," Spirit replied.

"Don't you wish to become one with your friends? With Shinji and Asuka and Rei?"

"Yes."

"Don't you wish to become one with the one you desire? With Toji Suzuhara?"

Spirit's eyes widened at the sound of that name, the fog her mind was caught in abruptly lifting.

_Toji's still trapped inside the plug!_ Her brain shrieked, suddenly remembering exactly how she had come to be in her current situation.

The Angel had not expected to blunder in such a manner, and with Spirit having thrown off the veil it had carefully wrapped around her mind and their AT fields dangerously close to collapsing completely, the minds of the two beings touched.

To Spirit, it was similar to the way a bolt of lightning could turn night into day and allow a traveler a split second view of the landscape. For that fraction of an instant, she understood everything about the Angels.

_I see!_ She thought frantically, nearly overwhelmed by the rush of information. _If any two beings with the Fruit of Life come into contact, it'll bring about a Third Impact! The Angel wants to do that with me, because then it'll become one with the All-Father and its siblings! But because I'm of Lilith, I possess the Fruit of Knowledge! I have the power of choice! I can't invoke Third Impact unless I choose to! And…and…_

And then it was over, as the Angel pulled its consiousness back from her, alarmed. It was too late, however. Spirit had already seen a world where the oceans ran red, not with human blood, but with LCL that contained the captured souls of all humanity.

"You want me to help you end the world!" Spirit spat. "Well you can forget it! I won't do it! Never!"

The Angel's face was a picture of distress and horror. It opened its mouth to protest, but before it could utter a sound, Spirit fired a cross blast at it, sending it flying backwards. The world seemed to shatter around her in response. Spirit gasped—

* * *

—and sat up, the gray ooze that had been so intent on cocooning her now pulling away from her body as if it was a frightened animal. She coughed, disgustedly spitting out some of the gunk that had gotten into her mouth.

Quickly collecting her wits, Spirit realized that the positions of Units One and Three hadn't changed while the Angel had been trying to tempt her into bringing about Armageddon. She couldn't have been trapped for long, but she still doubted that Shinji could hold the Angel for much longer. She had to act fast.

The web of gray ooze had retreated almost entirely from view, so that wouldn't be an obstacle to retrieving Toji. Spirit reached her hands into two of the holes that NERV used when force ejecting LCL from the plug and pulled with all her might.

The plug didn't budge so much as an inch, probably held in place by more of the gray ooze inside the plug cavity, she reasoned.

"Oh, no! I did _not_ get slammed into the forest floor and go through that crazy trip just to be unable to get him out!" Spirit shouted, an enraged and slightly maniac look on her face.

She reached both her hands into the same hole in the plug this time and pulled with every ounce of her superhuman strength, tearing apart the ultra-dense metal of the entry plug and at last revealing Toji Suzuhara.

The jock lay unconscious in his command chair, bound by another web of the Angel's goo. It retreated fearfully when she reached for Toji, and she could swear she heard the stuff actually hissing at her as it did so. She easily lifted him from his chair, feeling grateful for the fact that the Angel had apparently ejected the LCL that should fill it at some point, and pulled him out of the plug.

And the Angel suddenly stopped struggling to escape from Unit One's hold.

_Is it dependant upon the pilot?_ Spirit wondered, realizing that she could no longer sense the Angel. She grinned. _That must be it! Ha! I guess I don't even need to bother blasting it to pieces!_

Shinji had apparently realized that his foe wasn't fighting any more as well. Unit One carefully released Unit Three, holding it by the shoulders and looking into the now dark eye holes in the EVA's helmet.

Carefully cradling Toji in her arms, Spirit flew right in front of Unit One's face so that the Third Child could see them.

"Thank you," Shinji said over Unit One's external speakers.

Spirit nodded, smiled, and flew off.

* * *

"Sir, the Angel's waveform pattern has disappeared! The target has gone completely silent!" Aoba reported from his station.

"Sir! Look!" Makoto added before Gendo could say anything, punching in a few commands and putting a live feed from Unit One on the main screen.

The sight of Spirit holding the apparently unscathed Fourth Child greeted them, and a cheer went up in the bridge, everyone relieved to see that their newest pilot had survived his nightmarish ordeal.

Well, almost everyone.

"Damn it!" Gendo hissed.

The command center instantly fell silent, and everyone that had been celebrating a moment ago turned to stare up at the Commander in shock. The death glare he swept across the room quickly convinced his underlings to turn their attention back to their stations, however.

"You want me to go after Spirit?" Asuka suddenly chimed in, the FROM EVA-02 box popping up on the main screen.

Gendo was very, very tempted to answer in the affirmative. In fact, he was tempted to order the activation of Unit One's Dummy Plug and force his son's Evangelion to join the chase.

But his better judgment overrode his emotions, as it always did. After all, the last thing NERV's public image needed at the moment was for the Fourth Child to narrowly escape the Angel only to be killed by an EVA. Besides, with the way things were unfolding, Gendo honestly wouldn't have been surprised if the Angel came back to life the moment the EVA Units left it to pursue Spirit.

"No," Gendo said. "Your priority right now is to retrieve Unit Three. If it moves again, terminate it with extreme prejudice. Otherwise, take it back to base and place it in cage seven."

"Roger!" the three pilots replied crisply.

"Pilot Ikari," Gendo said. "After this operation is complete, I want to see you in my office."

"Yes, Commander," Shinji replied in a firm, unrepentant tone that Gendo decided he didn't like at all.

* * *

Toji was already coming around as Spirit landed in one of the forests nearby, much to her relief. She had been afraid that the Angel might have hurt him somehow, but she knew it wouldn't exactly be the wisest thing for her to seek out a NERV rescue team.

She gently placed the newest EVA pilot on a large, mostly flat rock she found in a tiny clearing. His eyes slowly slid open a moment later.

"You know, you're cute, but we really do have to stop meeting like this," Spirit commented, though her playful smirk said just the opposite. "You all right?"

"Yeah," Toji answered, gingerly sitting up. "What happened? Did you save my life again?"

Spirit nodded. "Yes. Your EVA was possessed by an Angel and went crazy. It stopped as soon as I managed to get you out, though."

"Damn," Toji breathed, running his fingers through his hair. "Well, thank you for saving me. That's three times over I owe you my life."

"I was happy to do it," Spirit said with a grin. She sobered a moment later, however. "Can I ask you a question?"

"Of course," Toji said.

"Why did you agree to pilot EVA?" Spirit asked. "You know that it was NERV that kidnapped you that time, right?"

"I suspected as much," Toji answered, looking down at his hands in contemplation. "I agreed for a couple of reasons. One was that NERV offered to pay for me and my sister to go to any university we wanted once we finish high school."

Spirit blinked, surprised. Toji had agreed to help and risk his life for an organization that had done him ill for money?

"I always figured that if I went anywhere in life, it would be with sports," he continued. "But my sister's really smart. My Dad and Grandpa don't make very much money, though, so they won't be able to send her anyplace really good. It seemed like this would be the only shot Mari would get at being able to go to whatever school she wanted."

Toji decided to refrain from mentioning that part of his rationale for piloting was figuring that if someone as meek as Shinji could pilot, then he himself should have little difficulty with it. Which was a good move on his part, since Spirit wouldn't have been melting to nearly the same extent otherwise.

_This is why I like him so much,_ she thought. _He's such a kind and caring guy beneath the rough jock exterior._

"And what was the other reason you got into the EVA?" she asked.

"Well…maybe I was hoping I'd be able to see you again," Toji answered.

The jock then blinked a few times, shocked that the words actually sounded as smooth spoken aloud as they had inside his head. Fortunately, Spirit didn't seem to notice, judging by the way she beamed at him.

"Looks like you got what you wanted," she purred in a sultry voice that sent a very pleasant shiver through him.

"Yeah," he agreed with a nervous but very real grin. "Hey, I was wondering…"

But here he found himself at a loss for anything to say. What was he supposed to do? Ask the girl out? He couldn't exactly picture Spirit just flying down to meet him at a karaoke place some evening, especially considering that NERV was out to get her for some incomprehensible reason.

How did one go about dating a super heroine?

The sound of car motors from nearby interrupted his thoughts. It was doubtlessly NERV forces out searching for the Fourth Child, they were both sure.

Spirit heaved an annoyed sigh. "Looks like I have to be going."

"Wait," Toji said. "Will I see you again?"

The silver haired girl grinned. "Sooner than you'd think, I expect," she answered, eyes twinkling. "But here, to remember me by…"

With that, she cupped his cheek with one hand, leaned in, and pressed her lips to his in a brief, tender kiss.

She pulled back, grinning and with a hint of redness on her freckled face. "Until next time," she said softly before flapping her wings and flying away.

Toji just sat there, feeling shell shocked for almost a solid minute. Then…

"YATTA!" he shouted to the heavens.

Though already high above him and heading back to Tokyo-3, Spirit was just able to hear his exclamation. She broke out into delighted giggles at the sound, doing a few loop-de-loops as she flew through the air.

_I finally got to kiss him! I finally got to kiss him! I finally got to kiss him!_

The revelations and disturbing information she'd gleaned from the Thirteenth Angel, both about herself and the possibility of a Third Impact, couldn't be further from her mind as she soared back to the city, feeling almost like she didn't need her wings to fly at the moment.

It wasn't until she was about a kilometer away from the city limits that her feelings of euphoria were shattered.

She abruptly sensed the strange Angel that had been brought to Japan on _Over the Rainbow_. Adam, she now knew.

The disturbing duality of terror and desperate longing washed over her in a wave so powerful that she actually forgot to keep flying. Spirit went tumbling limply toward the earth as she grappled with the unwelcome swell of emotion. The wind rushing past her and the ground rushing forward to greet her seemed like very unimportant details as she fell.

Spirit realized just in time that she was about to crash into the ground for a second time that day, and snapped her wings open as her survival instinct kicked in, rapidly ascending again. Once she was back over the treetops, she hovered in midair, trying to recover.

_I am of Lilith. I possess the Fruit of Knowledge and have the power to _choose, she thought desperately, gritting her teeth. _I choose _not_ to seek out Adam!_

The feelings invoked by Adam ebbed but did not vanish, much like when she had first sensed the powerful Angel on the _Rainbow_. Spirit released a small sigh of relief. She realized that she was panting, and that her skin was clammy and cold.

_What the hell? Did NERV move Adam for some reason? Bring him out around here somewhere?_ She wondered.

No, she realized with a shake of her head. Unless her sixth sense for the Angels was very much off, Adam was still inside NERV headquarters, deep inside the Geofront. But why was she able to sense him, then? She had actually needed to be inside the Geofront to sense him before.

_The Thirteenth Angel,_ she thought, a look of slowly dawning horror appearing on her face. _Did getting absorbed by it like that change me somehow? Make my ability to sense Angels stronger?_

That seemed like the only reasonable explanation, and it caused a feeling of dread to form in the pit of her stomach. If she could sense Adam from such a distance, that meant that she would never be free of the urge to seek out the First Angel, not so long as she was within the city. Could she really live with the unpleasant sensations in invoked within her constantly in the background of her mind?

She didn't see how she had much of a choice in the matter. It wasn't as if she could just leave the city, after all. If she suddenly vanished, NERV might make the connection between her and Spirit, or at least suspect it, which meant she wouldn't be able to go near civilization. It wasn't as though she could use her powers to magically produce food and shelter for herself, never mind the fact that she didn't want to worry and burden her family by disappearing.

With a sigh, Spirit continued her flight back to Tokyo-3.

* * *

"Blatant insubordination, aiding and abetting a hostile being…these are criminal offenses," Gendo stated coldly, staring at his son across the expanse of his dim office. "Do you have anything to say?"

"Why are you so angry? The Angel was defeated. Unit Three was recovered intact. The pilot was saved," Shinji replied, his voice slowly rising as he spoke. "I realize I disobeyed orders, but I couldn't just watch someone who's saved my life be killed. Especially not when she was the best hope of saving Toji!"

Gendo glared venomously at Shinji. The Third Child's right hand began twitching in that nervous tic of his, but he held his father's gaze.

_It was a great error to tell him the truth at Yui's grave,_ Gendo thought. _He lost hope of gaining my approval and love then, and now he no longer seeks it._

"You disobeyed orders," Gendo hissed. "This is inexcusable."

"Your orders made no sense!" Shinji protested. "Why do you regard someone who's been helping us an enemy?"

"You are a child. You could never understand the details of such complex matters," Gendo said scornfully.

Which, of course, was just a dodge that he used because he couldn't exactly tell Shinji about the scenario and how saving the world had never been on NERV's agenda. Shinji was too insulted to realize that Gendo had avoided the question, however, and glared angrily in response to the naked contempt directed at him.

When it was clear that Shinji wasn't going to say anything, Gendo pushed a button on his desk. A moment later, a pair of black-suited Section Two agents entered.

"Take the Third Child to a holding cell," Gendo ordered.

The two men nodded, each taking hold of one of Shinji's arms. He didn't struggle as he was led out of the room.

Once he was gone, Gendo allowed himself a tired sigh, leaning back in his chair. "Too much of his mother in that boy..."

* * *

"So what's the word, doc?" Toji asked, dressing after a very long and rather unpleasant physical.

Dr. Yoshimora of NERV Medical studied a clipboard that he had in one hand. "Nothing seems out of the ordinary from what I can tell," he said. "When Dr. Akagi returns, I'll have her look over the results for any signs of contamination that I may have missed, but I doubt she'll find anything. You're a very lucky young man."

"Yeah," Toji agreed with a suddenly dreamy expression. "I know."

The physician gave the Fourth Child an odd look. "Are you going to continue to pilot?" he asked.

"Yeah," Toji answered. "I have to, don't I? NERV will break their part of the deal if I break mine, right?"

"I think it's safe to say so," Yoshimora agreed.

"Uh, how's everything else?" Toji asked. "How's Shinji?"

"I think Pilot Ikari is currently in solitary confinement for insubordination," Yoshimora answered with a sigh.

"What?!" Toji exclaimed, incredulous. "They locked Shinji up because he helped save my life!?"

The doctor shrugged as if to say that he wasn't the Commander and didn't know why the man did what he did. "Dr. Akagi and Major Katsuragi were banged up a bit, but they'll be fine," he said, changing the subject. "Even Unit Three is supposed to be fine, though decontaminating it will probably take a while, I've heard."

Toji nodded, relieved despite himself at that fact. Much as he wanted to see Spirit again, he wasn't eager to pilot EVA once more.

"Do they need me for anything?" he asked.

"No. Go home and rest, kid," Yoshimora said. "Doctor's orders."

* * *

Had anyone been watching Hikari Horaki when she woke up the next morning, they would have thought that she had just come out of a very frightening nightmare. The girl jerked awake very suddenly, bathed in cold sweat and panting heavily, looking like the very picture of someone recovering from the imagined torments of a sleeping mind.

This was not the case, however. Nightmares were not what had put her into this state, the siren song of the First Angel was.

_I am of Lilith. I have the fruit of knowledge and the power of choice. I choose not to seek Adam!_ She thought, and again the feelings generated by her ability to sense Adam faded.

The words had largely lost all meaning to her. The understanding of the Angels she had gotten from the Thirteenth had dissipated in her mind like smoke before she'd even reached the city, the way that dreams sometimes did shortly after waking. She had a feeling that the knowledge was still lodged somewhere deep within her subconscious, though. The words that were becoming her new mantra seemed to possess some kind of talismanic power that helped her get herself under control, even if she didn't really remember what Lilith was and how exactly she was significant.

The urge to seek the Angel within NERV having diminished to a level that she could ignore, Hikari got out of her futon and groaned slightly, wondering if she would have to deal with this every morning.

_Maybe I can pay a visit to the Commander as Spirit and "politely" ask him to move the Angel,_ Hikari thought as she made her way to the bathroom. _Then again…_

It was an amusing idea, but she wasn't too keen on seeking out one of the most heavily guarded men on the planet, especially considering that he apparently hated her with a burning passion. She knew he _probably_ wouldn't have an AT field neutralization generator under his home, but she really didn't feel like pressing her luck.

A hot shower and a good breakfast did wonders for Hikari's mood, and by the time she and Nozomi were walking to school, the class rep was actually perky enough for her sister to notice.

"Why are you so happy this morning?" Nozomi asked.

"No reason," Hikari answered. "What? Am I not allowed to be happy?"

"Of course you are, but the last time you said that, it turned out that you were moonlighting as a superhero," Nozomi pointed out, her smile turning mischievous. "Has something happened between you and Suzuhara?"

"No," Hikari snapped irritably. "And I still haven't forgiven you for your messing around in my business, by the way."

Nozomi didn't reply, but she smiled, turning away from Hikari so her sister couldn't see it. She was more than a little pleased with herself.

_Nothing's going on between Toji and _Hikari_,_ the class rep thought. _But maybe today I can change that._

She had thought over what the Angel had said to her very carefully, her typically long night giving her ample time to do so, and she had come to the conclusion that it had made some good points, despite the fact that it was trying to entice her into ending the world.

She did put up fronts too often, whether it be Spirit or the ultra-strict class rep, and what had it ever gotten her? She had become closer to her sisters because circumstances had forced her to be herself around them more often, instead of almost always playing the part of the stern mother figure.

Besides, she had finally come to realize that any relationship she might have with Toji as Spirit could never go anywhere. Spirit couldn't be with him for more than a few minutes at a time, and only then when fate deemed that their paths should cross. Hikari, on the other hand, was a different story.

Which was a big part of the reason why she had pledged to try and be herself more often, even if it could be intimidating to do so at times, and the entire reason she had decided she was going to ask him out.

_Well, that and the fact that it was really fun kissing him!_ She thought, blushing slightly and suppressing a giggle.

Yes, asking out the jock was just what the doctor ordered, Hikari decided with a stab of nervous anticipation, both for the sake of casting off her proverbial masks and for getting her mind off the Angel inside NERV.

Arriving at school, she parted ways with Nozomi and headed for her classroom where she sat down and wondered what would be the best time to approach Toji.

Yet her adolescent planning and nervousness were momentarily forgotten when Asuka entered the classroom, looking very annoyed and without Shinji at her side. As the two pilots lived together, they usually both arrived at school together. Shinji's absence immediately caused a feeling of anxiety to creep into Hikari's mind.

_What if something happened to Unit One after I left?_ She wondered. It had seemed perfectly fine at the time, but what if it had been infected by the Angel?

"Ohayo, Asuka," Hikari said, approaching her friend. "How are you?"

"Ohayo, Hikari," Asuka replied with a sigh. "I'm okay, I guess. The winged wonder interfered in the battle yesterday. Again."

"Wh-what happened?" Hikari asked, the fear in her voice not entirely fake.

Asuka related the story to her with an unusual level of honesty for her recounts of Angel battles. "And then Commander Ikari had the baka thrown into a cell for insubordination," she finished. "Misato was furious with the Commander when she found out."

Hikari held back a small sigh of relief. _Okay, they just locked him up for a little while. It's not like that hasn't happened before. He should be out in a few days._

"Are you okay, Asuka?" Hikari asked. "You seem…down, I guess."

Not at all like she normally was after an Angel battle, which was enraged or smug, depending upon how the battle had gone and who got the kill.

"I'm fine," Asuka replied without much conviction. "No need to worry about me."

In truth, the last battle had left her with a steaming cauldron of conflicting and mostly unpleasant emotions. She wanted to be furious with Spirit for stealing her spotlight again, and on a certain level she actually was, but even she couldn't pretend that rescuing the Fourth Child would have been easy without her. The EVA's weren't really built for such delicate tasks as extracting an entry plug; they were built for killing things as big or bigger than they were.

And, much as she disliked the stooge who had been named the Fourth Child, she certainly didn't wish him _dead_.

She couldn't even be angry with Shinji. After all, the Third Child owed Spirit, no doubt about that. And after suffering the indignity of owing _him_ for months and still being unable to repay him, Asuka could respect his actions and motivations.

So there she was, wanting to be furious but unable to. Not wanting to feel even the tiniest bit of gratitude toward the winged wonder, but unable to do that too. Disgusted with herself and nearly everyone around her because of the way the war against the Angels was unfolding, which was not at all as she'd expected it to.

_I swear, sometimes it seems that everybody is trying to stop me from showing I'm the best pilot,_ Asuka thought. _Everybody except Hikari, anyway._

* * *

"Ikari, explain yourself!" SEELE-09 roared. "You allowed the anomaly to claim victory again! You should have removed her from the equation long ago!"

The Commander of NERV Central didn't blink, despite knowing that he was on dangerously thin ice. Where the objects essential to the scenario that he possessed had once seemed like unbeatable trump cards that would ensure his control of events, they now felt like barely adequate shields against the immediate wrath of SEELE.

_Damn that girl,_ he thought, not for the first time.

"The Angel had possessed Evangelion Unit Three and was effectively holding its pilot hostage," Gendo answered. "I decided that they were too valuable to be lost and thus elected to cooperate with the anomaly, which is why I ordered Unit One to assist."

"Really?" SEELE-03 sneered. "So you had the transmissions between your headquarters and the EVA's deleted for no reason, then?"

"I did not have them deleted," Gendo answered. "The Thirteenth Angel naturally produced a jamming effect, somewhat similar to that of the Tenth Angel. This interfered with the recording of the transmissions."

There was a pause in the virtual meeting chamber, and Gendo allowed himself to relax just slightly, sensing that he'd muddied the waters enough to stay his masters' hands, for the moment, at least. The members of SEELE were all still sure he was lying, but they weren't _absolutely_ sure any longer. And SEELE always had been overcautious.

It was truly pathetic that he had to stoop to such desperate and transparent maneuvers just to stave off an attempt by SEELE to remove him, Gendo mused, and it was all thanks to the girl.

"Give us one good reason why we should not replace you," SEELE-12 demanded.

"Because, despite the intervention of the anomaly, the scenario is still going according to schedule," Gendo answered levelly. "Events have not deviated from what was foretold in the Dead Sea Scrolls in any significant way."

"Save for the appearance of a human with the powers of an Angel," SEELE-06 pointed out.

"Events not chronicled in the scrolls are not a sign that the scenario is failing," Gendo replied. "It is when things that have been foretold fail to come to pass that we need worry."

The chamber was silent for a long, long moment.

"Very well, Ikari," SEELE-01 spoke at last. "We accept your explanation. For now. But be aware that our patience with your inability to remove the anomaly is growing very thin."

And with that, the monoliths faded out of view.

* * *

The moment was perfect. It was lunch period, Asuka was off talking about something with Rei, Kensuke was with his otaku friends, and Shinji was, of course, not about to make an appearance. Even Yuki was accounted for, off talking to some of her girlfriends. This was as good an opportunity as Hikari was ever going to get and she knew it.

The pig-tailed girl took a deep breath, trying to psyche herself up. _You can do this. Just go over there and ask him. You can do this! And remember, be yourself!_ She told herself, ironically in her best class rep tone of command.

Hikari approached Toji, who was sitting at his desk, about to dig into one of the bento boxes she'd made for him. He looked up at her as she drew near and gave her a small smile. "Hello, Hikari-san," he said.

"Suzuhara-kun," Hikari replied, struggling not to use clipped, stern orders. "I was wondering…"

She trailed off, feeling her courage threatening to give out on her. He looked at her curiously. "Yeah?"

Her heartbeat was accelerating rapidly, she realized, and her palms were starting to sweat.

"Are you doing anything this Saturday?" she forced out, mildly surprised that she was able to avoid speaking in an incomprehensible rush. "I was thinking that we, the two of us, could go and see a movie."

A kaleidoscope of emotions rapidly passed across the jock's face. First was shock, proving Shinji's assertion that Toji hadn't realized that she like him, followed by a pleased grin that made her heart leap hopefully.

Then his eyes widened in realization, and the grin melted away.

"Oh, uh, I would like that, Hikari-san, but…I really shouldn't," Toji said regretfully. "I, um, I think I'm with someone already."

Hikari felt shocked and oddly hollow, almost numb. She could barely form a coherent thought. She'd been so certain that if she could just say the words, everything else would start to fall into place. But apparently that was not to be.

"I see," she said slowly. "Well, I'll see you around school then, Suzuhara-kun."

With that, she quickly walked away before Toji could make any kind of response, not really caring where she was going so long as it was away from him and her feelings of humiliation and rejection.

_He _thinks_ he's with someone else?_ Hikari wondered, as her brain got itself out of neutral and quickly went into overdrive. _What the hell does that mean?!_

In her mind, she began to run through every piece of gossip she'd heard in the last week, desperately trying to figure out what girl had snatched up the jock before she could. She was unable to recall anything hinting at Toji seeing one of the girls in their school, however, and in any case, she was certain that she wouldn't have forgotten about such a thing in the first place.

Then realization hit her, and her eyes slid closed as she wondered how she could have been so stupid as to not to figure it out sooner.

_Spirit!_ _He said no to me because he kissed Spirit yesterday!_ She thought, suddenly furious beyond reason. _That…that _bitch_! She stole him from me!_

Seconds later, her anger and frustration receded slightly, allowing several salient facts to make their way back into her consciousness, not the least of which was that _she_ was Spirit.

She groaned and pinched the bridge of her nose. _I guess you _can_ be jealous of yourself! God, I'm so stupid! Why didn't I realize this would happen?_

The problem, she realized, was partially that she didn't _really_ think of Hikari and Spirit as separate people, so she had foolishly not realized that Toji would see dating her while he had something going on with the winged heroine as infidelity. It had just never crossed her mind. It also didn't help that she, as Spirit, had too much fun with him to think about what her actions would mean for her alter ego.

_Okay, I've more or less figured out how I got into this situation,_ she thought. _Now how do I get out of it?_

The obvious answer was to tell him that she was Spirit, but she rejected the idea almost immediately. Toji worked for NERV now, and while she was sure he'd never deliberately reveal her, if he made the slightest slip during battle, let out the tiniest hint that he knew who she really was…

She shuddered at the prospect.

_Maybe, if I get the chance, I can break up with him_, she considered next.

The idea of dumping the guy so she could finally date him seemed pretty demented even in context, and though it was workable enough, Hikari just felt that it would be a level of deception beyond what she had already been foolishly engaging in. She just _knew_ she wouldn't feel right about it, and that it would gnaw at her whenever she was with him. Telling him who she was seemed to be the only option, but she couldn't do it until the war against the Angels was over without risking everything.

_This is ridiculous,_ she thought as she resigned herself to having to wait an unknown period of time before she could start anything with Toji. _The only thing that could make this day worse is…_

And that was when she sensed the approach of the next Angel.

* * *

"All personnel go to first stage alert!" Misato barked from her place in the command center. "Prepare for surface to air intercept! Scramble the EVA's! And somebody get the Third Child out of the brig!"

"What's the target's status?" Fuyutski asked.

"It's still advancing!" Aoba answered. "It's already broken through the Komagatake defense line!"

Misato stared up at the main screen, watching the vaguely humanoid Angel approach. It was floating toward them almost serenely.

Then it got within range of the city's defense grid, and artillery batteries and missile turrets all over the city opened fire on the Angel, launching billions upon billions of yen worth of munitions at it, more than enough to level Tokyo-3, had the city been the target. It was an awesome display of man's ability to destroy and wage war.

The Fourteenth Angel probably had a different opinion on the matter, however, as it totally ignored the shells and rockets that were exploding against it with no effect. The eyes of its skull-like face lit up, and a cross shaped blast of violet energy that made the Third Angel's pyrotechnics look like firecrackers tore into the fortress of mankind.

"The first eighteen layers of armor have been penetrated!" Makoto moaned. "I don't believe it! Eighteen layers in one shot!"

"We won't be able to get the EVA's to the surface in time," Misato realized. "Position them inside the Geofront to protect headquarters! The EVA's are to attack the target as soon as it enters the Geofront."

"Roger!"

"What's Unit Three's status?" Misato asked.

"Decontamination is less than 5 percent completed," Maya answered. "It can't be used in combat."

"If we try to activate it, we'll have two Angels on our hands instead of just one," Ritsuko agreed.

"Well, we can't have that, then," Misato said with a touch of grim humor as she stared up at the main screen. "Looks like Toji gets to sit this one out. Shinji, Asuka, Rei, it's up to you."

* * *

"Let's go, Asuka," the Second Child said quietly to herself as she selected a pair of rifles from the weapons cache that NERV had placed near the pyramid in case of emergencies.

There weren't going to be very many more chances for her to prove her skill, she knew. And how many more of the remaining Angels would be simple if powerful fighters like this one? Angels she knew how to handle as opposed to bizarre threats she couldn't hope to pummel into submission like the Eleventh and Twelfth Angels had been?

No, this was her big opportunity. The power of this Angel practically had the brass wetting themselves, which meant it would be utterly perfect when the Great Asuka Langley Soryu destroyed it.

Unit One suddenly rose out of one of the EVA lifts, joining Unit Zero and her Unit Two on the Geofront floor.

"Nice to see you arrived in time for the party, Ikari," Asuka commented, opening a channel to Unit One.

"It took me a little longer to get to EVA because I was in the cell block," Shinji explained unnecessarily, looking rather unkempt from his stay in solitary confinement. "Who's taking point?"

"I am, of course," Asuka answered cheerfully.

"Cut the chatter," Misato broke in. "Shinji-kun, grab a weapon! One more shot and the Angel will have broken through."

"Hai!" Shinji replied, quickly fetching an EVA scale AK-47.

Seconds later, the roof of the Geofront erupted into an orange fireball, and the massive form of the Fourteenth Angel began to descend through the fire and smoke, totally unscathed by the flames.

The three Evangelions opened fire immediately, sending incredibly huge slugs flying toward the Angel at hundreds of kilometers per hour.

This seemed to impress it as much as the city's defense grid had.

"Damn it!" Asuka exclaimed in disbelief as her rifles clicked empty and she traded them for another pair.

These soon ran out of ammunition as well, and the Angel was still advancing at a mockingly slow pace, unhurried and casual. Asuka discarded her second pair of rifles and picked up two rocket launchers this time.

"The AT field's neutralized, isn't it?" she asked of no one in particular as her rockets exploded uselessly against the Angel.

"Yeah, but we can't neutralize the armor!" Shinji responded as he worked on emptying a pallet rifle against the Angel, for all the good it did.

The Angel stopped about a kilometer away from them, which translated into only about two or three steps for an Evangelion. Its stumpy arms unfolded, becoming long and almost paper thin. Asuka frowned in confusion.

Then the Angel lashed out.

Just as it did, the enormous monster stumbled forward, almost looking like it would fall on its face for a second. It failed to sever Unit Two's arms, missing by a fair margin as both its arms went wide of their targets.

The Angel didn't hesitate, however, quickly withdrawing its bizarre extremities and trying again.

And again it failed, this time because Unit One shoved Unit Two to the side. However, one of the Angel's long limbs managed to coil around Unit One's forearm and began to pull, intending to rip the arm from its socket. Shinji let out a cry of pain.

Acting without wasting time thinking about it, Asuka commanded Unit Two's shoulder pylon to open and grabbed the progressive knife that it contained. The weapon came joyously to life in the crimson titan's hand, and Asuka sliced the Angel's arm in two, freeing Unit One from its grip.

"Arigato!" Shinji said.

"Welcome," Asuka replied, her attention already back on the Angel.

Why had it stumbled forward the first time when it was trying to attack her? What had pushed it?

She spotted something small and white behind the Angel. With a thought, she made the entry plug viewer magnify the image of it.

"Her!" Asuka spat venomously as she regarded Spirit.

_The damned glory hog is back!_ She added silently.

"Forget about her!" Misato barked in a such a tone of command that Asuka didn't even think of disobeying. "Concentrate on the Angel!"

"Yes, ma'am," Asuka replied at once.

The Angel lashed out again, but this time Asuka rolled easily out of harm's way, avoiding the NERV pyramid and the lake but paying no heed to the forests she reduced to kindling beneath Unit Two's weight.

_Well, at least the Angel knows who the real threat to it is,_ Asuka thought with a tiny, grim smirk.

As if caused by the mere thought, the Angel suddenly switched targets, turning around to face Spirit. The Angel of Might fired one of its energy blasts, which missed by a mile. Spirit retaliated with one of her own cross blasts, knocking it slightly off balance again but doing little appreciable damage.

Shinji apparently saw this as his opportunity to pounce. Unit One charged forward with a progressive axe held in its hands. With a loud roar, Shinji swung the massive melee weapon into the Angel's side, burying the axe in the Angel's side with a solid _thunk!_

It was far from the bisection Shinji had been hoping for.

The Angel turned to face Unit One and Shinji could only watch in horror as its eyes lit up. "Oh, sh—!"

The energy blast slammed into Unit One like a battering ram made of solid flame, sending the mighty Evangelion flying to almost the other side of the Geofront before it crashed to the ground, landing in a heap.

"Shinji-kun!" Misato exclaimed.

"Ikari-kun!" Rei cried.

"Shinji…" Asuka whispered, eyes wide in horror.

_This isn't how it's supposed to be,_ Asuka thought. _Nobody's supposed to die. Not even a stooge like the Third Child. I'm supposed to be good enough to protect everybody!_

"I'm okay," Shinji groaned, evicting several sighs of relief. "I can keep going…"

The violet Evangelion dragged itself to its feet, and Asuka winced at the sight of it. A large section of the armor on the EVA's chest and even part of its helmet had been partially melted. He had to be in a lot of pain.

_You've definitely gotten tougher, Ikari. I'll give you that,_ Asuka thought.

Spirit had managed to regain the Angel's attention by now, and she was literally flying rings around it as it tried futilely to swat her out of the sky. The winged girl attacked with her cross blasts, neatly severing the Angel's deadly arms and leaving it with useless stumps.

"Damn her," Asuka said softly, enraged that the girl had done more damage to the Angel than she had.

She was about to throw Unit Two into motion and show everyone who was _really_ the best Angel killer in town when Misato's voice entered her plug. "Shinji, Rei, I want you to hold the Angel in place! Asuka, we're sending you the type twenty positron rifle!"

"Roger!" the three pilots responded.

Unit One sprinted across the Geofront, somehow managing to arrive at the Angel at the same time Unit Zero did. Both Evangelions grabbed the Angel's side, holding its shoulders and what were its approximations for hips. The monster let out a thunderous roar as it struggled, but with no arms to fight with, there was little it could do to escape the EVA's grip.

Spirit, to Asuka's horror, took the opportunity to fire a cross blast right at the Angel's core.

An armored membrane like an eyelid snapped shut over the core before the winged wonder's attack would strike it, shielding the red sphere. Asuka had to resist the urge to cackle gleefully at the little bitch's failure.

"Be careful to stay out of range of its energy attack," Misato cautioned as Asuka returned her prog knife to its place and retrieved the positron rifle that rose up from one of the massive lifts. "The last thing we need is for you to get blasted while you're lining up your shot."

"Yeah, yeah, I know," Asuka said dismissively as she hefted the weapon and summonsed her targeting visor.

She wasn't that far away from the Angel, even outside of what the MAGI estimated was the range of the monster's energy attack, but she still needed the targeting computer. Positron weapons didn't shoot exactly straight, which wasn't normally a problem, but with an EVA on either side of the Angel, precision was obviously required.

_This is it!_ Asuka thought, breathless in anticipation as she centered the reticule. _Everyone will finally realize how great I am after this! They'll treat me like I deserve!_

A blast of white energy with a ring on the top and arms that looked like fiery wings suddenly slammed into the Angel, mere seconds before Asuka could pull the trigger of her weapon. The Angel snapped its armored membrane closed again, but this time it proved insufficient protection. The Halo Wave tore right through it and shattered the core, killing the Angel.

Asuka gaped in disbelief as she watched Units Zero and One release the Fourteenth Angel, letting it fall forwards and crash to the ground.

"No," she whispered, slowly lowering the positron rifle. "No. I…I had it…"

It was Gendo Ikari who jolted her out of her stupor. "Now that the Angel has been destroyed, Spirit is your target," the Commander ordered. "Capture her if possible, but do not allow her to escape under any circumstances."

Asuka wordlessly tried to comply with the order, her vision going red as her shock and horror at having her victory snatched away _again_ rapidly converted themselves into unadulterated fury. She placed the positron rifle on the ground, preparing to chase the winged girl, and—

Unit One gripped her EVA's forearm, a communications window from Shinji popping up on her display. "Asuka, wait! You can't do this! Spirit—!"

He was cut off as Unit Two's massive fist slammed into the side of Unit One's head with enough force to shatter a small mountain. Shinji cried out in surprise and pain as his EVA was sent reeling from the blow.

But he was somehow able to maintain his hold upon Unit Two's arm, pulling the scarlet war machine down with him as Unit One collapsed to the ground. The two Evangelions rolled around on the floor of the Geofront as they grappled in an eerie reenactment of the battle against the Thirteenth Angel that had taken place only the previous day.

Lost in the inferno of her mindless rage, Asuka commanded Unit Two's shoulder pylon to open the moment she managed to get on top, again summonsing her progressive knife. Shinji let out a yelp of surprise and fear, grabbing hold of Unit Two's wrist and halting its progress before the knife could connect.

* * *

"Oh my god, she's trying to use her progressive knife on him!" Misato exclaimed in horror as she watched the two Evangelions fight. "We've got to stop this! Rei! Intervene! Break them up!"

"Belay that! Raise the pressure of the LCL in Unit One's entry plug to the maximum level!" Gendo ordered.

"Unit One's plug?" Maya gasped, turning around to face the Commander, her dark eyes shining with obvious terror at the thought of it.

"Yes!" Gendo barked. "Do it! Now!"

"Yes, sir," Maya said reluctantly, keying in the appropriate commands.

Fortunately for Shinji's sake, he managed to get his legs beneath Unit Two and kick the other Evangelion off of his, breaking the deadly lockup the two had mere seconds before the LCL pressure went up.

"Damn it! What are you doing!" the Third Child screamed, his words echoing in the command center, just before he passed out.

_I wish I knew, Shinji-kun_, Misato thought with a disgusted shake of her head.

"Pilot Soryu!" Gendo snapped. "Unit One has been neutralized, and Spirit is escaping. Capture her!"

"Yes, sir!"

* * *

Asuka didn't think about Shinji as she threw Unit Two into a full out sprint. She didn't think about how Misato would react to what she'd just done. She didn't think about what anyone would say when they'd found out what she'd just done.

She couldn't think about these things. There was simply no room in her mind for them, not with the thought of finally, _finally_ getting the little Angel bitch blazing through every synapse in her brain.

Spirit had a big head start and was very fast, but Unit Two could cover an incredible amount of distance very quickly, and Asuka knew where her prey was going. The only way out for her was the hole that the Angel has blasted into the roof of the Geofront. All Asuka had to do was catch her before she reached it, and she _knew_ she could do it.

The gap between them closed to nearly nothing. Grinning manically, Asuka had Unit Two perform a leap that an Olympic athlete would have envied, sailing forwards and upwards with all her collected momentum. She reached out with Unit Two's right arm, its enormous hand mere meters away from the panicked looking girl, ready to pluck her straight out of the sky.

Gravity suddenly reclaimed its hold on Unit Two, far sooner than it should have, and the Evangelion went plummeting back to the ground.

"_Noooooo!_" Asuka shrieked as she helplessly watched Spirit escape.

Unit Two slammed into the ground, sending a jolt of pain to her through the A-10 connection. Trying to figure out what had caused her to fall before she'd even reached the apex of her jump, Asuka looked down toward Unit Two's legs. She gasped aloud at what she saw.

Unit Zero was clutching onto her EVA's ankle. Rei had pulled her down to allow Spirit to escape.

* * *

Author's Notes: It just wouldn't be EVA without a psychoanalytical head trip in there somewhere, and the Thirteenth Angel seemed like the best opportunity for it. Personally, I think Spirit's experience made _far_ too much sense compared to what Shinji went through in the series, but I didn't want to make it ambiguous and confusing just for the sake of making it ambiguous and confusing.

Anyway, as you can see, Asuka's screws are starting to come loose in earnest now, and her self-control is going as a result. And needless to say, there will be _lots_ of fallout next chapter for what happened here. Stay tuned.

I'm glad the X-Men reference last chapter was appreciated. They don't seem to be getting much love in the SOE series, so I thought I'd throw that it.

Ryousanki, you know, Spirit probably could blast off her own limbs and have them grow back, now that I think about it. After all, she's lost and regrown the wings. However, she's understandable reluctant to do that.

JediMasterDarjaak, Hikari would have to agree to be the Fifth Child, and I see no reason why she would that, especially since it's doubtful she'd make it through a physical from NERV Medical without her secret coming out. As for the Stewie Griffin thing, I had no plans for such, but I may have to do it now that you've put the idea in my head.

Konous the grey, sorry, but I'm not looking to overload the angst-o-meter like the anime did. What's the point of adding a superhero to the mix if everything goes just as wretched as it did anyway? Also, I know you won't be happy about my having to remove Unit One's "god is angry" moment, but I felt it was necessary. By the way, I don't dislike Cyclops, I just made him the commander because he's the usual second in command of the X-Men and "Commander Xavier" would've been blindingly obvious.

Reform Joms, I have no plans to continue that omake at the moment, but we'll see.

The Rei-Fan, thanks for the info about the Japanese.

Invincible Shinji, unfortunately, pretty much all the other superwomen were occupied at the time.

Commander Galos, if you want to know Gendo's evil scheme, you'll just have to keep reading, now won't you? :P

* * *

Omakes

I Watch Too Much TV

The disturbing duality of terror and desperate longing washed over her in a wave so powerful that she actually forgot to keep flying. Spirit went tumbling limply toward the earth as she grappled with the unwelcome swell of emotion. The wind rushing past her and the ground rushing forward to greet her seemed like very unimportant details as she fell.

Spirit realized that she was about to crash into the ground a second too late to stop her fall. Fortunately for her, another was nearby to make the save.

A huge spider web suddenly appeared, sticking to the nearby trees and forming a net that broke her fall. A web of goo wasn't exactly the most welcome sight after her experience with the Thirteenth Angel, but it was sure better than slamming into the ground again!

Spirit looked up to see one of the newer superwomen perched on a tree branch. "Wow! Thanks, Spider-Woman!"

"Everybody gets one," Spider-Woman said curtly before she went web-slinging away.

* * *

Administrative Problems…

It was that time again, time for the biweekly meeting of the Superwomen of Eva in their decrepit but much loved base. After meeting outside of Rei's apartment building, the group headed inside and made their way to the appropriate room. They still hadn't agreed on a name for the place, but Misato had apparently had a new idea, because a sign reading, "**Secret Headquarters of Shin-chan's Lovely Ladies (and Spirit)**" in bold red kanji had been taped to the door.

"Real mature, Misato," Hikari said as she pulled down the sign, more amused than annoyed.

The purple haired woman just gave the freckled girl an innocent "who me?" look in response.

"The amazing thing is that Section Two never noticed the sign, despite the fact that an EVA pilot lives in this building," Ritsuko commented.

The group filed inside, missing the cleverly hidden spy within.

Actually, the spy wasn't cleverly hidden at all. Kaji was just standing very still in a corner of the room with a lampshade over his head, thinking hard about light bulbs. Fortunately for him, though, the ladies were far too preoccupied to notice him at the moment.

"Okay, this meeting is officially called to order," Hikari said. "The first item on the agenda tonight is to appoint an official group leader."

"Oh! Me!" Misato said, raising her hand in the air like a student trying to get the teacher's attention. "I've had officer training! I'd make a great leader for our group!"

Asuka snorted. "Yeah, because you're doing such a good job as the Operations Director! We've got all of us here to try and fix things and the world is _still_ in danger!"

"Hey! I can't help it! It's not like this is a cakewalk! Our foe is so shockingly evil and incredibly powerful that I dare not speak his name!" Misato exclaimed.

"This is the bad guy for 'Heroes United!' we're talking about, right?" Maya asked. "I'm just checking."

"Correct," Misato nodded, pleased that Maya had caught on so quickly.

"What's his name?" Mana asked.

"I dare not speak it!" Misato hissed.

"Why are we even debating this?" Asuka asked. "Clearly, _I'm_ a born leader!"

"The way you got Shinji-kun, yourself, and I hopelessly lost when the power went out refutes this claim," Rei said, earning a furious glare from Asuka.

"Well I think that I should be the leader," Ritsuko spoke up, "as I'm clearly the smartest superwoman."

"Oh, so you can do computer programming! Big deal! I'm the one who can think on her feet!" Misato argued.

"When you're angry, you can't think, period," Ritsuko pointed out.

"Hold on, I think I should be leader," Hikari said. "My position as class rep has given me leadership experience. Plus, as the first superwoman of Eva, I have seniority."

"Hey! I was the first superwomen!" Misato protested.

"She's talking chronologically, not publication order," Ritsuko said, then turned to Hikari. "Do you really think that the idea of seniority can really help you, a fourteen-year-old girl, win this?"

"Yes," Hikari said firmly, she then narrowed her eyes. "After all, I was using my super powers to kill Angels while you were still boinking Gendo!"

"You bitch!" Ritsuko exclaimed, her insectoid arms bursting out of her back and tearing through her shirt as her fangs and claws also appeared. "I'll pound you!"

"Bring it on!" Hikari exclaimed as her wings emerged and her hair and eyes changed color.

"Oooo, cat fight," Kaji said as the two superwomen started brawling.

(A/N: I _really_ don't know where this one came from. Actually, yeah I do: Invader Zim, ReDeath, and a bit too much sugar. Anyway, I feel I should mention I don't know any secrets about orionpax09's plans for "Heroes United!", so please ignore any blathering from me about it.)


	18. Chapter 17

Disclaimer: Neon Genesis Evangelion is the creation of Anno and Gainax. I don't own it, make no claims to it, and am making no profit from the fan fiction. No infringement of copyright is intended. In other words, please don't sue.

* * *

Chapter Seventeen

Shinji groaned softly as he awoke, his whole body aching. He slowly forced his eyes open, to be faced with…nothing. He couldn't see a thing except total blackness, the same as when he'd had his eyes shut.

_Am I blind?_ He wondered dimly for a second, still not fully awake.

Then he remembered how the last battle had ended for him, how his father had ordered him knocked out so Asuka could have a clear path to capturing Spirit.

_I must be in the solitary confinement cell again,_ he thought. _I hope that I bought Spirit enough time to escape._

He sighed as he looked into the darkness. "Never thought I'd be wishing for the sight of an unfamiliar ceiling…"

* * *

Inside a dim, virtual meeting room, twelve monoliths appeared for an emergency meeting of the SEELE council.

"All our plans are in grave jeopardy," SEELE-09 started without preamble. "Ikari is clearly losing all control of NERV, never mind the scenario!"

"The fact that the last battle had Evangelions fighting Evangelions over the anomaly is indeed very disturbing," SEELE-02 agreed in a much more controlled voice.

"Only one of the three EVA pilots obeyed Ikari's commands," SEELE-07 added quietly. "And all our information suggests that the Fourth Child will be unwilling to move against the anomaly as well."

"Was it a mistake for us to give Gendo Ikari command of NERV?" SEELE-11 wondered aloud. "How did things get this dire without our knowing about it?"

"Ikari was always a master of concealing information," SEELE-09 growled. "Even if he cannot control NERV, I am not surprised that he was able to hide his failings from us for so long."

"That matters have gotten to this point is partially our fault," SEELE-12 said. "We should have placed a bell around Ikari's neck."

"We did put a bell around his neck! The bell didn't ring," SEELE-09 replied.

"A bell that doesn't ring is useless," SEELE-01 put in. "We'll have to make sure that the bell works next time. But first we must get a better look into the situation at NERV."

"Fuyutski?" SEELE-03 asked.

"Yes," SEELE-01 answered.

"It may take time to…schedule a meeting with him," SEELE-03 replied. "He is nearly as well guarded as Ikari."

"Just make it happen," SEELE-01 replied. "We must speak with him without Ikari's interference."

"Very well," SEELE-03 said.

* * *

No one dared to interrupt the Operations Director as she stalked through the halls of NERV in search of the Second Child, her anger clear in every movement of her body and her green eyes smoldering with fury. In fact, most of the NERV personnel who had the misfortune of crossing paths with her either ducked into side corridors or, if none were available, pressed themselves against the walls to avoid attracting her attention.

Asuka, however, didn't have that option.

_Oh hell, here it comes,_ the Second Child thought with a grimace when Misato drew near.

The chaos in the immediate aftermath of the battle had delayed the confrontation by several hours, but Asuka knew it was ultimately inevitable. That was why she'd bothered remaining in headquarters, despite the fact that she had nothing better to do while she waited than loiter around in the halls. Asuka Langley Soryu never shirked a confrontation, after all.

"What the hell were you doing out there?" Misato demanded at once.

"Following orders," Asuka responded curtly.

"You weren't ordered to attack Unit One!" Misato barked. "And you sure as hell weren't ordered to draw your progressive knife on it! You could have seriously hurt Shinji if you'd stabbed Unit One in the head!"

"He shouldn't have gotten in my way!" Asuka snapped. "He was disobeying orders!"

In truth, Asuka was, in retrospect, shocked at what she had almost done. She had been trying to rationalize it since she had gotten out of her EVA, but it didn't sit right even with her.

Not that she was about to confess as much to Misato. She'd dug herself in too deep to backpedal now.

"Maybe he shouldn't have tried to stop you, but your response was totally excessive!" Misato yelled. "Drawing your progressive knife on Unit One was inexcusable!"

"I was only trying to follow orders, damn it!" Asuka protested.

Misato's eyes narrowed. "You do realize that you're trying to use the Nuremburg defense, don't you?"

Asuka blinked. She hadn't realized that, and she found she had no good counter to Misato's point.

"Are you planning on sticking me in a holding cell, too, then?" Asuka asked instead, crossing her arms.

"No, the Commander has explicitly ordered that I'm to take no formal disciplinary actions with you," Misato growled.

Asuka remained silent as she waited for the other shoe to drop. She didn't have to wait for very long.

"However, that doesn't mean that I can't take _informal_ disciplinary actions," Misato continued. "Commander Ikari has sentenced Shinji to two weeks of solitary confinement, which is a damn long time for anyone to endure sensory deprivation in one of those cells, never mind a fourteen-year-old boy. Guess who's going to be doing all the chores around the apartment while he's gone?"

"Fine, whatever," Asuka grumbled, realizing that she'd gotten off easy. "What's happened to Ayanami, by the way? Is she stuck in a holding cell, too?"

Before Misato could answer, Gendo Ikari emerged from around a corner, with Rei trailing just behind him. The Commander's face was stony, far more so than usual, while Rei actually looked frightened.

Misato snapped to attention as he passed. It was done out of habit and training; she no longer had any respect for the man. Gendo didn't even seem to notice her presence. Asuka looked like she wanted to say something to Rei but checked herself for fear of directing the Commander's wrath at herself.

Wordlessly, the two boarded an elevator nearby. The doors slid shut, and they were gone.

"Not in a holding cell," Misato observed. "But I wouldn't be surprised if she was more than willing to trade places with Shinji right now."

_Good,_ Asuka thought, glaring at the elevator doors Rei had vanished behind.

* * *

Rei Ayanami had known for a long time that many people in NERV referred to Commander Ikari's office as "the lair," but she had never quite understood the nickname. While it was true that the lightning in the room was unusually low most of the time, the fear and anxiety that most people expressed having felt when they entered the room had always mystified her.

Now, however, as she followed him inside the massive, nearly empty room, she understood it perfectly. Every instinct she possessed told her to run, to flee from this terrifying place and her angered creator, but she forced herself to stand before his desk.

"Rei," Gendo began.

"Commander," Rei replied in a small voice.

Rather than continue, Gendo got up from his desk and began to pace around it. Rei swallowed. She had never seen the Commander this visibly agitated before.

_He is going to replace me,_ she thought with utter certainty. _I have deliberately and knowingly acted against his will, and he will replace me for it. I am going to die._

While this wouldn't have distressed her in the least several months ago, the thought now left her feeling cold. She had come to enjoy life, she had friends now, people whom she cared about and who cared about her. She did not wish to die.

_At least my second incarnation will have died for a better reason than my first,_ Rei thought.

"Why did you do it, Rei?" Gendo asked at last.

Rei hesitated a moment, wondering what to say, wondering if what she said would make any difference. After a few seconds, she opted for the answer that she judged would have the highest possibly of saving her, while still being part of the truth.

"Spirit has been a useful ally in NERV's engagements with the Angels," she said.

Gendo's eyes narrowed behind his orange tinted glasses. "You did not pull down Unit Two for NERV's sake," he said flatly. "Tell me your real reason for doing it."

_Because Spirit is my friend Hikari,_ Rei thought, but knew she couldn't say. But what could she tell the Commander? It had to be something he would believe, but at the same time, it couldn't be false. Even now, Rei could not bring herself to outright lie to him.

"Well?" Gendo asked impatiently. "Why did you do it?"

"Because Pilot Ikari would be saddened if Pilot Soryu had succeeded," Rei answered.

The Commander's eyes widened slightly. "What?"

"Pilot Ikari obviously did not wish for Pilot Soryu to capture or kill Spirit," Rei elaborated. "He has grown to see Spirit as an ally whom he owes his life. I…did not wish for him to fail to save her."

Gendo sat back down at his desk, folding his hands in front of his face as he regarded her with his awesome and terrible gaze for a long, long moment. Rei nearly quailed in terror, unused to having him look at her in this manner.

Unable to hold his eyes with her own any long, her gaze flicked down to his desk, but this wasn't as helpful as she would have hoped; she knew he kept a gun locked in one of the drawers of his desk. It wouldn't have surprised her a bit if he opened that drawer right now.

"I'm disappointed in you, Rei," Gendo said.

"What?" Rei asked, blinking at this unexpected reaction.

"I said that I am disappointed in you," Gendo replied. "Now get out."

"You are not going to replace me?" Rei asked.

"Do you _wish_ to be replaced?" Gendo replied.

"No," Rei said quickly.

"Then get out of here, and do not act against my wishes again," Gendo said flatly.

"Sir," Rei said with a respectful bow, then quickly turned and made her escape.

_Something is not right here,_ Rei thought as she retreated to the relative safety of the hallway.

Much as she would like to believe that she had been pardoned, she strongly suspected that she had just been granted a reprieve for some reason.

After all, she had stood at Gendo Ikari's side for years, and such a show of mercy simply wasn't consistent with his behavioral patterns, not for anyone. There _had_ to be some reason for his refraining to replace her on the spot; he would never suffer a disobedient subordinate, much less one that was utterly crucial to his scenario.

_What are you planning, Commander? And where does my replacement come in?_ Rei wondered as she fled the halls of NERV headquarters.

* * *

It was with no small amount of trepidation that Hikari walked with Nozomi to school the next morning, fearing what she would discover had happened in NERV after Spirit had departed the Geofront.

_I still can't believe Asuka actually attacked Unit One!_ She thought. _I knew she hated Spirit, but that was crazy!_

Parting ways with Nozomi, Hikari trudged to the classroom. She was early, as usual, and she didn't expect to find anyone else there.

So she was doubly surprised to find Rei sitting at her desk as usual.

"Rei!" Hikari exclaimed, rushing up to her. "I thought that you would have been in a cell next to Shinji's after what happened yesterday."

"Ohayo, Hikari," Rei greeted, and Hikari suddenly noticed that the First Child looked tired and worn in a way she'd never seen her before. "As you can see, I have not been placed in confinement like Shinji. I have not been disciplined at all, in fact. I must admit that I find this fact…confusing."

Rei's words made Hikari recall an incident a year or two ago when Nozomi had done some minor mischief and Hikari had caught her at it. Hikari had been in a very good mood at the time for some reason or another, and she had actually decided to let Nozomi off the hook with just a warning.

However, the action apparently had been so out of character for her that Nozomi had been completely certain that Hikari was just waiting for the right moment to spring some truly terrible punishment on her. So Nozomi had gone to her older sister and practically begged to be punished only a few days later.

Unfortunately, in this situation, it was perfectly possible that Commander Ikari _was_ just waiting to surprise Rei was some kind of terrible punishment, so there was little Hikari could do to reassure her friend.

"I'm sure it'll be okay," Hikari said, which sounded very much like an empty platitude even to her ears. "Please, Rei, could you explain everything that happened to me? Why did Asuka go ballistic like that? I knew she doesn't like Spirit upstaging her, but that was too much."

Rei spent the next several minutes explaining the battle from NERV's perspective, and Hikari felt her face twisting into a grimace as she did so.

_I didn't realize Asuka was just a second or two from killing the Angel,_ she thought. From where she'd been hovering, EVA Unit Two had been standing there doing nothing for seemingly forever. She'd thought that there was a problem with that huge gun Unit Two had been holding or something.

Not that this excused what Asuka had done to Shinji, of course, but it did make Hikari feel rather guilty. After all, if she had trained her entire life to do something and some random person kept popping in and doing it first, well, Hikari probably wouldn't be too pleased, either.

Just then, the door to the classroom opened up and Asuka strode in.

"Speak of the devil…" Hikari muttered softly, earning a perplexed frown from Rei.

"Ohayo, Hikari," Asuka greeted the class rep, pointedly ignoring Rei.

Hikari knew that she should respond as though nothing had happened, as though she had little to no idea what exactly had happened down in the Geofront yesterday.

But she just couldn't. Whenever she looked at Asuka, she saw Unit Two's fist slamming mercilessly into Unit One's head with enough force to crumple part of the helmet and send parts of the armor flying.

Wordlessly, Hikari turned, showing her back to the Second Child.

Asuka blinked in confusion for a second before her face hardened. She looked from Hikari to Rei and back again. "Fine, I see how it is," she said.

_No, you really don't, Asuka,_ Hikari thought with a mental sigh. _If you did, you'd probably be trying to attack me._

Asuka went and sat down at her own desk. "Let them be mad at me," she grumbled to herself. "I don't care. I don't need them. I don't need anyone."

* * *

"Hello, is Ryoji Kaji available? I need to talk to him," Asuka said.

The bored secretary on the other end of the phone line sighed theatrically, getting an annoyed scowl from Asuka. "Inspector Kaji is on a special assignment and cannot be contacted at this time."

"Do you have any idea when I _will_ be able to contact him?" Asuka asked.

"Not at this time," the secretary asked.

"Fine," Asuka growled, hanging up without so much as a good-bye. "I swear, all office workers were born idiots."

It had been a week since the battle against the Fourteenth Angel, and Asuka was starting to feel like she was at the end of her rope. Misato had been giving her the cold shoulder the entire time, in addition to forcing her to do all the various menial tasks around the apartment to keep their living area more or less presentable. She and Hikari still weren't speaking, and Rei was (wisely) avoiding her.

_I still can't believe she betrayed me like that,_ Asuka thought, feeling a fresh surge of anger at the thought of the blue haired girl. _And after everything I've done for her._

Asuka shook her head, letting her rage at the First Child go for the moment.

She felt like it had become her against the world since the last battle. Oh sure, Gendo Ikari was obviously on her side, but Commander Iceblock wasn't exactly a wellspring of moral support.

Which was why she wanted Kaji so badly right then. Kaji would understand her, she was sure. He might not agree with her actions, but he wouldn't treat her like she was some kind of demon. He never had, and he never would. In this, and in him, Asuka's faith was absolute.

"Unfortunately, that doesn't do me a lot of good if I can't get a hold of the guy," Asuka grumbled to herself.

* * *

Rei usually wasn't jolted unpleasantly into wakefulness, but this morning, she heard what she thought was someone stepping on a creaky part of her floor. She quickly sat bolt upright, and for a terrifying second, she thought that there was someone inside her apartment.

Then the second passed and she realized that what had inspired such fear was nothing more than a vaguely man-shaped shadow that her mind had turned into a Section Two agent come to deal out death.

The First Child sat in bed for several minutes, panting heavily as her heartbeat slowly decelerated. Ever since the Commander had inexplicably spared her life, Rei had felt as though she had a Sword of Damocles suspended above her head at all times of the day and night.

She looked about her dim room. The Hello Kitty figurine was gone, and the Gundam alarm clock had once been replaced with a much plainer, more utilitarian timepiece. The picture of Mount Fuji remained, however, because Rei had decided, upon reflection, that looking at it made her feel serene and that she liked it.

It didn't create any serenity within her at the moment, though. Which was a pity, because Rei could really use some at the moment. This was not the first such incident of jumping at shadows.

"Is this…paranoia?" Rei wondered aloud.

Then she recalled something she had once heard Commander Ikari say to Fuyutski. _Just because I'm paranoid, doesn't mean that nobody's out to get me._

Having come to another new understanding of human emotion that she could have done without, Rei shivered.

* * *

The door opened slowly, its thick hinges squeaking unpleasantly as it swung. Shinji groaned and held his hands up to shield his eyes from the light. "Who's there?" he asked.

"It's me," Misato replied.

"Misato? Are you here to take me home?" Shinji asked.

The desperation was so crystal clear in his voice that Misato was actually glad that Commander Ikari had forbidden anyone from visiting him. It would have broken her heart to tell him no.

"I am," she replied. "So let's blow this popsicle stand, Shinji-kun. You've been spending way too much time here, anyway. It almost makes me think you prefer this place to my apartment."

He chuckled weakly. "Maybe it needs a sign. 'Shin-chan's not so lovely suite.'"

"I don't think that'll be necessary," Misato said, forcing a smile.

_At least, I hope it won't be,_ she added silently.

* * *

"Finally," Ritsuko said with relief. "It's taken us over a month, but the decontamination of Unit Three is finished at last."

"It's a pity that the S2 engine the Angel created when it possessed the EVA began to decompose the moment we started the decontamination process, though," Maya commented.

"It couldn't be helped, I suppose," Makoto said. "Really, we're just fortunate that both Unit Three and the Fourth Child managed to come out of this experience unscathed. Now that we've got four active EVA Units here, I'm not so worried about the Angels anymore, that's for sure."

"I don't know about that," Aoba spoke up, ever the wet blanket of the group. "You've seen what's been happening to Asuka's harmonics test results, right? At this rate, we may be down to three active Evangelions again soon."

"Don't be a pessimist," Maya scolded. "Hopefully, she'll bounce back."

Aoba responded with a noncommittal noise that didn't exactly express confidence in the Second Child's ability to rebound from her slump.

"Well, I have to go make my report to Commander Ikari and let him know that Unit Three's ready for duty again," Ritsuko said, picking up a tan folder. "Play nice while I'm away."

Receiving three statements of agreement with varying degrees of enthusiasm, Ritsuko headed from the command center to Commander Ikari's office. Gendo was seated at his desk as usual, going over some of the paperwork that an organization the size of NERV inevitably generated by the truckload. His shadow was absent for once, and Ritsuko guessed that Fuyutski was meeting with the city council or had been saddled with some equally boring task.

"Dr. Akagi," Gendo greeted her.

"Sir," Ritsuko replied. "The decontamination of Unit Three has been completed. I am officially declaring it battle ready. Here's the full report."

"Very well, Dr. Akagi," Gendo said, accepting the folder but not opening it. "That's good to hear."

Ritsuko knew Gendo well enough to realize that he had something to tell her, so she didn't bother to try and leave. "Sir?"

"I understand that you requested more funding for the refinement of the Dummy System," Gendo said.

Ritsuko blinked. "Yes, sir," she replied. "Given a little more work, the control over EVA afforded to NERV by the system could be increased substantially, to the point that the Dummy Plugs would rival the real pilots."

"That will not be necessary," Gendo said. "Only three Angels still remain, according to the scrolls. It is doubtful that you'll complete the development of the system prior to the end of the war, and with the way things have been proceeding, we may never have use for the Dummy System at all."

"B-But, sir—!" Ritsuko protested, aghast.

"Your request for further funding has been denied, Doctor," Gendo said. "Now, you are dismissed."

"Yes, sir," Ritsuko said, turning and walking out, not caring if he saw how her hands tightened into fists as she left.

_How could he?_ She wondered.

The Dummy Plug was to be her greatest work, the crown jewel of her scientific career. It was supposed to be her…her…

_My MAGI,_ she thought. _The project that would finally get me out of mother's shadow. And that bastard won't even turn it on!_

* * *

"It's been a very long time, Chairman Keel," Fuyutski spoke as he looked up into the darkness surrounding the little island of light where he sat, tied to a chair. "I have to say, I've had better welcomes in my day."

The SEELE-01 monolith materialized before him. "We needed to have a long discussion with you, and only you. This was the best way."

"You never change, do you?" Fuyutski asked with an amused smirk. "You never take all the variables into account."

"On the contrary," SEELE-07 replied, his monolith appearing. "We try to take everything into account, which is why Ikari's loss of control at NERV concerns us so."

"Please understand our motivations," SEELE-03 added.

"Well, well, well," Fuyutski said as the great monoliths all finished appearing. "Not the Committee, but the SEELE council itself has finally made an appearance."

"We have no intention of losing control of the scenario at this point," SEELE-09 said.

"I'm sure we can work together somehow, Professor Fuyutski," SEELE-02 said, sounding oily even in spite of the voice distortion.

Fuyutski sighed heavily.

* * *

There was, Shinji decided, something innately more relaxing about hanging out with other guys than hanging out with girls. Maybe it was just because the lingering fear that he might be accused of being a pervert wasn't present when he spent time with Toji and Kensuke, but whatever the reason, he found a trip to the arcade with the two was perhaps the best way for him to unwind.

Not that he didn't still consider Hikari his best friend, of course.

"Man, I still can't believe that you let the devil off the hook for slugging your EVA," Toji commented for what had to be the millionth time since Shinji had been released.

Shinji just shrugged as he put his money into a machine and got a handful of tokens back. "I didn't see the point in pursuing the issue," he replied.

Really, he didn't regret taking the tactic of pretending the incident had never happened at all. Things had returned to a reasonable imitation of normalcy, with most everyone unable or unwilling to maintain their anger at Asuka when he clearly wasn't going to hold a grudge. Oh, to be sure, things were much more awkward than they had been, and Asuka and Rei's friendship was effectively dead, with the two avoiding one another as much as possible, but things were certainly bearable.

And in any case, Asuka was clearly having a rough time of things, anyway, with her sync score dropping, and he didn't feel any need to add to her misery.

"You are way too much of a doormat, Shin-man," Toji declared.

"Careful. What'll you do next time you need to borrow money from him if he takes your words to heart?" Kensuke quipped.

"Ha, ha," Toji grumbled.

"Look, can we just drop this and do what we came here to do?" Shinji asked, gesturing to the arcade machines.

Toji and Kensuke couldn't argue with that sentiment, and the three boys headed inside, where they had a grand time losing money for the next hour. However, both Shinji and Kensuke couldn't help but notice that Toji was doing far more poorly than usual. And while they didn't say anything at the time (with Toji off his game, they both had had a chance at winning for once), Kensuke brought it up as they were leaving.

"Something bothering you, Toji? I haven't seen you do so bad at ski-ball in forever," the bespectacled boy asked.

"I just…have something on my mind," Toji replied haltingly. "Did you know that Hikari asked me out a while ago?"

Kensuke looked shocked. "The class rep? No way, I never would have guessed that she had a thing for you!"

Unnoticed by both his friends, Shinji rolled his eyes.

"So, what did you say to her?" Kensuke asked.

"I said no," Toji answered. "After all, I told you what happened between me and Spirit. This was the day after that."

"Told" was actually far too mild a word to describe how Toji had relayed the incident to his friends. He had bragged about the rendezvous between himself and the winged girl over and over again, until Shinji and Kensuke had finally made him stop.

"Okay, so?" Kensuke asked, clearly not seeing what Toji's problem was.

"I dunno, I've been thinking that it might've been a bad move. I may ask Hikari out…" Toji confessed.

"_What?!_" Kensuke screeched. "You're going to dump Spirit for _Hikari_?!"

"Hikari's a nice girl," Shinji said, frowning crossly.

"I never said that she wasn't," Kensuke quickly replied, sweating as he realized how deeply he'd put his foot into his mouth. "But, Toji…have you forgotten what Spirit _looks_ like? The girl's one notch below Misato on the hotness scale, maybe less! And she's a super hero! Come on, how cool is that?"

"It's extremely cool, and trust me, I remember perfectly what she looks like," Toji replied. "But I haven't even seen her once since the Thirteenth Angel. It's almost like she's…not real or something. I dunno how to describe it better. It's confusing, I don't know what to do."

Kensuke held up his right hand and rubbed his thumb and forefinger together.

Toji frowned. "What are you doing?"

"I'm playing the world's smallest violin!" Kensuke exclaimed. "You're complaining because you have too many women after you!"

Toji scowled. "Be serious for a second, Ken."

"Fine," Kensuke said with a sigh. "Let me ask you a question, Toji, but first, let me remind you of the fact that Spirit can kill Angels with her bare hands, something that Shinji here needs a 70 meter tall death machine to do. Now, keeping this in mind, do you _really_ think it's a good idea to start seeing another girl, despite the fact that Spirit's rarely around?"

Even Shinji had to admit that Kensuke had a pretty solid point there.

* * *

Having rescued the Vice Commander from SEELE's clutches and completing his final assignment, Ryoji Kaji waited patiently in an air circulatory station in the Geofront.

It didn't take too long for the sound of footsteps to echo through the room. But Kaji wanted to die as irreverently as he had lived, so he looked up, smirked slightly, and said, "You're late."

Then the room filled with the sound of gunfire.

* * *

Misato had rushed home at speeds that were insane even by her standards, though if asked she couldn't have told anyone exactly why. It wasn't as though she expected Kaji to be waiting in her apartment for her. Section Two had taken her ID card and gun and had locked her up while they searched for Kaji, and even they wouldn't have released her if he was still at large.

Yet this logic didn't cause her to ease up on the gas pedal, nor did it stop her from looking around with a wild expectation when she burst into her apartment. Sometimes, emotions just get the better of people, and Misato Katsuragi was no exception to this rule.

She didn't see Kaji standing in her kitchen when she got home, but she did quickly notice the blinking light on her answering machine. With a shaking hand, she reached out and pressed the button.

"You have—one—new message," the machine said in its overly perky tone before switching to Kaji's recording. "Katsuragi, it's me. I'm sure by the time you're listening to this message I've caused you a lot of trouble. I'm sorry. Please tell Rit-chan I'm sorry too. And there's one more thing to trouble you with. I've been growing…flowers. I'd appreciate it if you could water them for me. Shinji knows where they are. One more thing: I just recently stumbled upon the answer to that question you asked me. If you want to figure it out, remember the details of our date at the Blue Crystal restaurant. Katsuragi, the truth is with you. Don't hesitate! Move forward! If I see you again, I'll say the words that I couldn't say eight years ago. Sayonara."

"No!" Misato sobbed. "No! Damn it, you idiot! Why did you have to go and get yourself killed! I told you to stop digging into NERV's secrets! I told you…"

She trailed off, unable to keep speaking as tears poured down her face and she was racked with sobs.

* * *

_My god, Kaji-san is dead?_ Shinji thought, standing just outside the door to the apartment.

He had heard the entire message, and now he found himself listening to Misato's anguished crying. His heart went out to his guardian, and he reached for the door, ready to go in and do…something.

Shinji hesitated, realizing he had no idea how to comfort a person that had lost a loved one. _What am I supposed to do?_ He wondered, pulling his hand back from the doorknob. _I'm just a child. I can't fix this._

He was just about to leave, maybe find a ramen stand or some other place where he could kill an hour or two, but then he stopped again. Shinji remembered how wretched he'd felt, back on the _Over the Rainbow_, when he'd thought that Hikari was dead. And Hikari wasn't his lover, she was just his friend. How much worse must Misato be feeling, he wondered.

He also remembered Asuka's words of sympathy and the way she'd put a hand on his shoulder after the battle. He remembered marveling at how much comfort he'd gotten from that simple gesture.

_I mustn't run away! I mustn't run away! I mustn't run away!_

Taking a deep breath, Shinji opened the door and walked inside, finding Misato leaning on the kitchen table as she sobbed freely.

"Misato," he said softly, placing a nervous hand on her shoulder.

He was more than a little surprised when Misato whirled around and threw her arms around him in a crushing embrace, burying her face in his shoulder as she cried. The boy stiffened, then forced himself to relax and gingerly put his own arms around her.

"He's dead, Shinji-kun! He's dead!" Misato choked out.

"I know," Shinji said softly. "I'm sorry."

* * *

_Several days later…_

"Asuka's sync ratio is worse than ever," Ritsuko observed as she looked over Maya's shoulder at the technician's display. "She's barely above the absolute borderline."

"She is down a whole twelve points from yesterday," Maya agreed sadly.

"This is bad, we don't have a replacement for her," Ritsuko said, straightening.

"Asuka's having her period right now," Misato said quietly. "I'm sure that when it's finished her score will bounce back."

Part of the Operations Director wondered why she was defending the Second Child. Not so much because she was still angry at Asuka for attacking Unit One, but because leaving her in the plug could seriously compromise their defense against the Angels. She had responsibilities to NERV and to defending the world in addition to her responsibilities to her charges, after all.

But she couldn't bring herself to start requesting they find a new pilot for Unit Two, fearing it would break the Second Child if she did so. Misato wasn't an idiot; she could see how miserable Asuka had been lately, and she wanted to help her, despite all the arguments they'd had lately.

_Unfortunately, the only one she'd ever let help her was Kaji,_ Misato thought. _Damn you, you tramp, why did you have to die and leave us both?_

Since listening to his final message, Misato had been consumed by two things. She wanted to know what the hell was really going on inside of NERV, and she wanted to know what that date she'd gone on with Kaji to the Blue Crystal had to do with Spirit. She felt sure that she could decipher the hidden message…if only she could remember the details of that date. At the moment, all she had managed to make herself recall was that it was a rather fancy place that they'd had trouble getting into and hadn't really been able to afford.

Ritsuko sighed. "Physical conditions like that don't influence harmonics. The problem's in her head," she said, before leaning toward a microphone on a nearby control panel and pressing a button. "All right, Asuka, you're done."

"Roger," Asuka replied with a sigh.

The Second Child emerged from her test plug silently and went to the locker room, changing back into her clothes. She was planning to return to the apartment, but then she ran into Rei in the elevator.

Asuka almost started shouting the moment she saw the blue haired girl, but she checked herself when she saw just how haggard Rei looked. The First Child's pale skin, usually almost luminescent, looked nearly gray and there were bags under her eyes. Wondering if Rei was actually feeling guilty or if something completely different was the cause of her appearance, Asuka silently entered the elevator.

The doors slid shut after her and the car began to descend. Rei and Asuka were quiet for a long, long time.

"If you do not open your heart to it, the EVA will not move," Rei said softly, finally breaking the silence.

"What?" Asuka demanded.

"Your EVA," Rei replied. "It has a mind. If you treat it like a doll, it will not move."

"Oh, so now you're trying to help me after betraying me during the last battle? Is that it?" Asuka spat.

Rei was silent.

"Not like it matters, anyway," Asuka grumbled. "They don't need us! The next time an Angel shows up, the little winged wonder will just swoop in and save the day again! We may as well stay home!"

"There have been several Angels that Spirit was incapable of defeating," Rei pointed out quietly.

Asuka responded to this with a derisive snort. "Why did you do it, Rei?" she asked. "Why did you stop me from catching her? I thought you were my friend!"

_Because she is my friend as well,_ Rei thought, but knew she couldn't say. In her current state, the Second Child might well expose Hikari if Rei told her the class rep's secret.

"Well?" Asuka demanded. "Why did you do it? Tell me!"

"I cannot."

With a wordless cry of rage, Asuka slapped Rei across the face, the sound echoing in the confines of the elevator. Much like when she'd struck Unit One, she didn't even realize she was going to do it until she had done it.

The elevator doors opened with a ping and Asuka stomped out. "In case you're wondering, we're not friends anymore."

"I had guessed as much," Rei replied as the doors slid shut.

Asuka was about to stalk off to the massive escalators that would take her to the surface, but then she paused. Knowing she'd be unable to let the idea go and hating herself for it, Asuka headed down to the EVA cages to have a "talk" with Unit Two.

* * *

Alarms blared in the command center, as NERV once again geared up to fight the Angels. The Fifteenth Angel had been detected in orbit mere minutes ago, and already the pilots were headed toward their EVA Units.

"We've got a visual of the target," Aoba said.

A pair of blazing wings appeared on the main screen, looking incredibly bright against the blackness of outer space. If not for her hatred of the Angels, Misato might have been tempted to think it was beautiful.

"It's keeping a constant distance from us," Makoto said. "It hasn't moved relative to our position yet."

_Is it waiting for an opportunity to come down and attack, or is it going to attack from orbit?_ Misato wondered.

"All the EVA Units are ready for launch," Aoba reported.

Misato nodded. "Unit One will take point and attempt to destroy the target with the positron rifle," she ordered. "The other Evangelions will provide support."

"What?! You expect me to be backup for the baka?" Asuka snapped. "No way! EVA Unit Two! Launch!"

The electromagnetic catapult obediently sent the crimson titan rocketing upwards toward the surface.

"Asuka—!" Akagi began, before Misato stopped her.

"Let her go, and provide her with the type twenty positron rifle," she said. "This is her last chance."

"So you'll remove her from combat if she can't do this?" Akagi asked.

Misato didn't answer.

* * *

Spirit had sensed the approach of the newest Angel in more than enough time to suit up and head out before the Evangelions made it to the battlefield, thanks to her newly enhanced ability to detect them. However, she received a rather rude surprise when she got out and actually started searching for it more closely.

"The damn thing's in outer space and I can _still_ sense it," Spirit muttered to herself as she looked up at the overcast sky.

She suddenly saw Unit Two emerge from one of the various EVA lifts in the city and flew higher in response, well out of its reach. A massive gun, the very same one that Asuka had tried to use against the Fourteenth Angel, was brought up from another large trap door in front of Unit Two. The EVA hefted the huge weapon and pointed it skywards.

A moment later, the other three Evangelions appeared in other parts of the city. Unit One quickly began setting up an even bigger gun than Unit Two had, while Units Zero and Three just stood about, looking as wary as giant weapons of death whose heads were concealed by helmets could.

_Maybe I should just leave,_ Spirit thought. _NERV seems to have things well in hand for once, and I sure can't do anything about the Angel unless it comes down. Staying might just be an invitation to have Asuka try and capture me again._

Still, she hesitated, because for all she knew, the Angel could come down at any moment, and then her friends might need her help.

So she waited, and as she hovered in midair, a massive shaft of light came down, effortlessly breaking through the gray, overcast sky. Much like the Angel itself, it would have looked beautiful to someone who didn't realize how potentially sinister it was.

Before either could do anything about it, both Spirit and Unit Two were caught inside the beam.

Spirit screamed, feeling something that was both totally alien and completely familiar effortlessly penetrating into the sanctity of her mind, and she—

* * *

_—couldn't believe that this was happening. It just seemed too surreal and impossible. Mom couldn't be dead. Mom couldn't die. It was impossible. Unthinkable._

_"D-Dad? Where's Mom?" Hikari asked again, even as tears of fright began to form in her eyes._

_Her father took a deep, shuddering breath, and Hikari realized with shock that he was on the verge of crying, which seemed almost as impossible as Mom being dead. Dad didn't cry._

_But he would if Mom really had died, Hikari realized, feeling cold inside._

_"She's in heaven, Hikari-chan," Dad replied._

_Seeing the tears welling up in his eyes, Hikari finally believed. All of a sudden, she felt dizzy, like she could barely keep her feet. The world had suddenly become a much sadder and more frightening place than it had been a moment ago._

_Seven-year-old Nozomi burst out into tears, and Hikari absently drew her younger sister close to her, allowing her to bury her face in her dress and soak it. For her own self, Hikari still felt too numb with shock to cry yet. Kodama apparently felt the same; the eldest Horaki girl's face was drawn and pinched, but no tears yet spilled from her brown eyes._

_"Girls," Dad said, "I know that—"_

* * *

—Spirit suddenly fell out of the beam of light. She had stopped flying the moment it had touched her, and since it didn't go straight down, she had fallen out of it. Somehow managing to recover before hitting the ground, she spread her wings again and started hovering once more.

"My god," she breathed, realizing she was panting.

It had been so real, so much more than just a hallucination. For those few seconds that she'd been caught in the Angel's terrible light, she'd been right back there, right back in the middle of that horrible day.

The sound of the Second Child's screaming suddenly echoed across Tokyo-3, and Asuka pulled the trigger on her massive gun several times, sending several balls of blue light flying upwards. Her aim was apparently off, because the Angel's attack didn't cease.

Asuka's gun then clicked empty.

_Oh god, Asuka's going through what I did, or something like it anyway!_ Spirit thought. _I have to get her out of there, but how?_

Obviously, she couldn't go and pull her out of her EVA the same way that she'd rescued Toji. The mere thought of reentering that awful light sent a shudder through her. But how could she get her out without touching her?

The answer hit her a moment later with all the force of the unavoidable, and Spirit winced. "I'm sorry, Asuka…"

Asuka screamed as Unit Two was thrown backwards nearly a kilometer by the force of Spirit's cross blast, getting her out of Angel's light. The Second Child groaned loudly as Unit Two slumped down to the ground, laying in a heap upon the street.

Then the light began to move, slowly headed for Unit Two's new position. Spirit's eyes widened in terror. With Unit Two on its back, she couldn't even try and get to the entry plug.

_Should I knock it out of the way again?_ Spirit wondered, biting her lip. _But I could seriously hurt Asuka if I keep blasting Unit Two!_

Unit One suddenly grabbed hold of Unit Two and began to drag it away from the slow moving beam of light, tearing the hell out of the street as it went. Blinking, Spirit turned to the massive gun that Unit One had been manning, to see that Unit Three had taken Shinji's place. She hadn't even realized that Unit One had moved until it was pulling Asuka to safety.

"Good going, Shinji," Spirit breathed.

Toji pulled the trigger on the massive gun, and a blast of impossibly bright light lanced upward through the clouds.

And still, the Angel lived.

Feeling supremely useless and wondering if this was how she'd made Asuka feel, Spirit looked desperately at the four EVA Units…only to realize that there were just three present. Unit Zero had seemingly disappeared.

"What the…? Where did Rei go?" Spirit wondered aloud.

Her question was answered a minute later, when Unit Zero reappeared on the surface, this time carrying a massive red weapon longer than itself.

Spirit shivered at the sight of it, feeling fear borne of pure instinct, and non-human instinct at that. The thing didn't actually look all that scary. In fact, its appearance was almost comical, given the close resemblance it had to a massive tuning fork. But despite this, something about the weapon radiated danger to her. She didn't know how or why it was dangerous, but she had _no_ doubt in her mind that it was.

Unit Zero got into throwing position and then paused for a long moment, probably lining up the shot exactly, Spirit guessed. Then, with a deafening roar, the blue giant hurled the weapon, which cut effortlessly through the clouds as it sailed upwards, somehow obliterating the storm that was drizzling on the city.

Spirit waited with bated breath for several seconds, and for a moment she believed that this effort had failed as well.

Then the column of light that was still lazily pursuing Units One and Two suddenly winked out, and Spirit could no longer sense the presence of the Angel.

With a sigh of relief, Spirit flew off, suddenly wanting more than anything to be away and be Hikari again. She waved absently at Unit Three as she passed the ebony Evangelion, and then was away from the battle ground.

* * *

Asuka sat on the hard ground, curled up in a near fetal position, surrounded by yellow caution tape. She couldn't believe what had transpired.

_They saved me,_ she thought. _Everyone that opposed me last time…Shinji, Rei, that winged bitch…they all saved me._

Her face twisted into a dark scowl as a wave of self-loathing hit her. She couldn't believe that she'd needed _them_ to save her.

"I would rather have died," she whispered. "I would rather have died than be saved by her. I'd rather have let the Angel into my mind."

But would she really have preferred that? The Angel hadn't quite managed to get into her brain before Unit Two had been flung from the Angel's beam, but it had still been the most frightening experience of her life. And why not? Rape was supposed to be terrifying after all, and she had come very close to having her mind raped.

The bottom line was that she didn't know if she'd rather have been left where she was, didn't know if she was…grateful to Spirit. If she owed her.

And she _hated_ herself for that, hated herself more than she hated Spirit even.

"Asuka, are you all right?" Shinji asked from behind her.

The redhead sighed heavily. Part of her wanted to hate Shinji, too. Wanted to loathe the boy who was so pathetic and yet could still beat her. But she just couldn't. Maybe it was because she just felt so tired, or maybe it was because he had never held the way she'd attacked him and his EVA against her, but she couldn't summons any rage against Shinji Ikari.

"No," Asuka answered, standing up and turning to face him. "But…I think I'll live."

* * *

Author's Notes: Wow, this chapter was a massive pain to write, largely because of the episodes which cover this part of the Eva timeline. Episode 20 is all about getting Shinji out of Unit One, which I didn't have to do, and episodes 21 and 22 are more flashbacks than anything else. There's not that much actually happening at the time, though what is happening in the present is important.

But enough of my whining. As I'm sure many of you have noticed, this chapter was light on Hikari. I actually tried to throw in another Hikari scene, but while editing this chapter I realized it would be much more appropriate in the next chapter. So it ultimately couldn't be helped. But fear not, she'll have more face time next chapter and the next Angel battle will be more exciting.

Invincible Shinji, I have no plans to do anything with the other superwomen aside from the occasional nods to the other fics, so no, Shinji won't be finding out their identities in this one.

Zoro50, I can totally understand your feelings about Asuka. However, whenever I try and figure out what having a superhero around killing the Angels would do to her, I can never think of a way that it would have a positive effect.

Animefan29, I have seen that story. However, I'm not familiar with the Darkness so its appeal to me so far is pretty limited.

The 17th Immortal, I actually did make reference to the nephilim thing at one point. In one chapter it's mentioned that Rei is the product of Gendo's "Nephilim Creation Project."

DarklightZERO, I understand your point, but as you yourself pointed out, it's been too late for Gendo to try and recruit Spirit for a while now. Besides, in the anime, I don't think we ever really saw Gendo's scenario start to come off the tracks until Rei III rejected him in EoE. I think it's possible Gendo would freak and do something foolish if things started majorly deviating from the plan he'd been making for the last decade.

Kenzie, always good to hear from you. As you can see here, Hikari had her reasons for "stealing" the kill from Asuka from last chapter.

As always (except last chapter, because I somehow forgot), thanks to all my readers and reviewers.

* * *

Omakes

Shouldn't Have Left That Laying Around…

Shinji and Asuka were used to walking into their home and finding their guardian in somewhat…compromising positions. Seeing as how said guardian liked beer too much and tended to prance around scantily clad at home, it was unavoidable, and for the most part it no longer phased them.

This time, however…

"I am the Great Asuka Langley Soryu!" an obviously tipsy Misato exclaimed, doing her best to sound lofty in spite of her slurred words and failing miserably. "The pilot of Evanpelamon…er, Epacelion…uh, Unit Two! Worship my greatness or I'll smack you!"

Shinji, noticing that a vein in Asuka's forehead was starting to pulse, wisely decided to back away from her by a few steps.

"Okay, where in the hell did she get _that_?" Asuka demanded, pointing a finger at the thing that had obviously inspired Misato's cosplaying, namely, the bright red wig she was wearing.

"Uh, my room," Shinji confessed.

"Oh! Mein Gott! You have wigs to make you look like a girl!? You perverted deviant!" Asuka exclaimed, revulsion written all over her face.

"No!" Shinji exclaimed. "It's not like that! I went cosplaying as Kenshin Himura once! It was before you came to Japan! Ask Hikari, she'll tell you about it!"

"Yeah!" Misato exclaimed. "Do what he said. The—hic!—great and wonderful Second Babe commands it!"

"Give me that!" Asuka barked, snatching the wig off Misato's head. "Why would you pretend to be me, anyway? You're nothing like me!"

"Yeah," Shinji agreed thoughtfully. "Asuka's really not a good person for you to cosplay as, Misato. Really, I think you should be Tifa Lockhart if you're going to cosplay at all."

"You've actually thought about this?" Asuka demanded.

"…no," Shinji lied, not at all convincingly.

"Ack! Baka hentai!"

* * *

Possession

"Man, if I never see another Angel, it'll be too soon," Toji commented to himself as he stretched out on his futon.

**What about hearing one?** A sinister voice came from nowhere.

"Blah!" Toji exclaimed, jumping up. "Who said that?!"

**It is I, the Thirteenth Angel!** The voice replied, laughing manically. **I have transferred myself to you! Now, nephilim, release your wings! We fly to the All-Father tonight!**

"Wings?! What the hell are you talking about? I don't have wings!" Toji replied.

**…you're not the half-Angel girl, are you?**

"Nope."

**Crap! I'll never live this down!** The Angel exclaimed. There was a pause, then, **But you are an EVA pilot! Next time you're in EVA, we fight our way to Adam!**

"Oh hell no!" Toji exclaimed. "I'm calling Dr. Akagi. She'll get you out of me!"

**No! I forbid it!**

Human and Angel fought for control of Toji's body for several minutes, and though it was a very close thing, Toji managed to call Akagi and tell her what was going on.

"There!" he said triumphantly as he hung up the phone. "NERV will be along soon to get me, and then you're history!"

**You're a jerk,** the Angel proclaimed petulantly. **And why are you hitting yourself?**

"Why am I—?"

The Angel suddenly brought Toji's hand up and made him slap himself in the face.

"Ow! Hey, quit that!" Toji exclaimed, finding himself unable to resist the commands for the quick, jerky movements.

**There are worse ways to spend one's final hours,** the Angel decided smugly.


	19. Chapter 18

Disclaimer: Neon Genesis Evangelion is the creation of Anno and Gainax. I don't own it, make no claims to it, and am making no profit from the fan fiction. No infringement of copyright is intended. In other words, please don't sue.

* * *

Chapter Eighteen

"Hi, Mom," Hikari said softly.

The pig-tailed girl kneeled down before her mother's headstone and slowly began to dig a small hole for the flowers she'd brought. Aside from the sound of her small spade pushing into the ground and pulling up dirt, the cemetery was as silent as, well, death.

Hikari and her sisters made a point of visiting their mother's grave every year on the anniversary of her death, but that date was still months away. Hikari had just felt compelled to make the extra trip because of her experience with the previous Angel. It had made the pain of losing her mother fresh again, and inspired a renewed longing in Hikari for her.

Finished digging, Hikari removed the small plant from its flower pot and put it inside the hole she'd made.

"I really wish you were here right now, Mom, and not just because I wouldn't have to do all the cooking and cleaning around the house if you were," Hikari said with a wry, sad smile as she packed soil around the flowers she'd planted. "I wonder what you would have said about the crazy things that have happened to me and the crazy things I've been doing. Would you have freaked out like Kodama did? Would you have believed that gaining such powers gave me the responsibility to use them for good? Would you have realized that when I first started being Spirit, it was mostly because I got a kick out of it?"

The headstone, of course, didn't answer. Hikari remained there for a few minutes longer, kneeling silently in front of her mother's grave. Part of her was tempted to spill out the story of _exactly_ what had happened to her since the wings had burst out of her back for the first time, not the censured version of the story she gave to her sisters. She eventually decided against it, however. She might be there for hours if she told the entire tale, and her mother could offer her no words of comfort or advice.

"There really doesn't seem to be anything else to say," Hikari mused aloud, standing up. "I guess that's a good thing. Means nothing was left unsaid between us."

Hikari kissed her fingers and then pressed them to her mother's name before she walked off, heading home.

* * *

Misato eyed the tiny microchip that she held between her thumb and forefinger with a critical gaze as Kaji's final message played in the background. It was such a small thing, she mused, to alleviate so much of her pain.

"The phone that doesn't ring doesn't hurt as much," Misato said softly. "Not since you gave me your soul."

And that was what it was, wasn't it? The quest for the truth behind NERV and Second Impact had been everything to Ryoji Kaji, even when it had become suicidal. He had died for it.

"Why did you have to do it, you crazy idiot?" she wondered aloud, not for the first time.

Shaking her head to clear it, Misato turned back to her personal computer. She would uncover the secrets Kaji had died in the pursuit of, and when she had the knowledge in her hands, she would then deal out justice accordingly. This she had sworn to herself many times over.

_Now if only I could figure out the secret that _I_ wanted to uncover_, Misato thought, again trying to recall the details of her date with Kaji to the Blue Crystal.

Unfortunately, the only additional fact that she'd been able to make her brain produce about that evening was that they had been celebrating something. She didn't even know what.

In truth, Misato didn't even know exactly what she would do if Kaji's ghost were to appear right at that moment and tell her who Spirit was. At the time she'd asked him about her, Misato hadn't had much of a plan beyond trying to help the girl stay one step ahead of NERV's attempts at capturing her and thanking her for her help.

Now, however, that seemed far too small a thing to do with such knowledge. After all, the clue was effectively Kaji's final gift to her. The chip was the proverbial torch that he was passing to her, while the clue about Spirit's identity was something he had given her just because she had asked.

Could she enlist the help of the girl in her quest? Would Spirit even consider trusting a member of NERV like her?

_Don't worry about problems you're no where near to having to deal with, Katsuragi,_ she chided herself. _Especially when you've got so many on your plate already…_

* * *

Emergency sessions were becoming the norm in the technically nonexistent meeting chamber of the SEELE council.

"The Lance of Longinus has been lost," SEELE-03 announced into the shadowy room. "It surpassed escape velocity after Ikari ordered it used against the Fifteenth Angel and is now on the surface of the moon."

"This will have grave consequences to the scenario," SEELE-11 said softly.

"I knew we should have replaced Ikari long ago!" SEELE-09 bellowed.

"Up until now the only charge we could level against him was incompetence, and perhaps some fairly mild deceptions," SEELE-08 pointed out. "Using the Lance without the authority of this body, however, is borderline treachery."

"But what are we to do about it?" SEELE-04 asked. "Though we cannot tolerate Ikari disposing of items essential to our scenario, our options are still limited. With the Mass Produced Evangelions still incomplete…"

"The time of Ikari's reckoning is drawing near," SEELE-01 spoke up. "Only two Angels remain. Once the Seventeenth is dead, then it will be time for us to strike. We need only remain vigilant until the appointed time arrives."

"However, should the opportunity arise, we must remind Ikari who is in control here," SEELE-09 said, taking a calculated risk in speaking after Keel had said his piece.

"Of course," SEELE-01 agreed in an annoyed tone. "Now, this meeting is adjourned."

Recognizing the dangerous finality in their leader's tone, the other members of SEELE left the virtual room, their monoliths vanishing and leaving SEELE-01 alone.

"Ikari, are you going to betray us?" Keel wondered aloud.

* * *

It was well into the evening when someone knocked on the door to the Horaki home, and Hikari frowned in confusion when she heard the sound.

_Who could that be?_ She wondered as she went to answer it.

She briefly hoped that it was her father, perhaps knocking on his own door because he'd forgotten his keys or something. However, she quickly discounted this possibility. Dad rarely if ever lost little things like that, and in any case, she couldn't see any reason why he'd be home. Really, the Horaki girls had barely seen him since the Twelfth Angel's death; nearly all of NERV had been working double duty since a large section of the city had been destroyed by nuclear fire and much of the rest had been painted red with the Angel's blood.

Placing thoughts of her father aside, Hikari reached the door and opened it. She blinked in surprise at who she found there.

"Hello, Hikari," Asuka said softly. "I know it's late, and I know we haven't been on the best of terms lately, but…could I please stay here tonight?"

Hikari stood there silently for a few seconds, struck dumb with surprise. Asuka almost sounded like she was begging her, which just felt terrifically _wrong._ Asuka didn't beg. Asuka demanded. Asuka convinced you that you wanted to do something for her. Asuka even just asked on occasion. But beg? No, never.

Or so Hikari had thought.

"Uh, sure," Hikari stammered out. "Come in, Asuka."

"Arigato," Asuka said softly as she entered.

It was at this point that Kodama appeared, having come to see who their evening visitor was. She looked about as surprised to see Asuka as Hikari felt at first, then a myriad of other emotions passed through her eyes in an instant.

Kodama knew of the rather bizarre double relationship her sister had with the German: friends in one life and more-or-less enemies in another. Hikari had done her best to leave out the details of how much Asuka loathed her alter ego and how close Unit Two had come to capturing her, but Kodama had still heard enough to form a rather negative opinion of the Second Child.

Fortunately, Asuka didn't seem to notice Kodama's expression and the eldest of the Horaki girls was quickly able to compose herself.

"Oh, good evening," Kodama greeted. "You must be Asuka, right? I've heard a lot about you from Hikari."

Asuka nodded, blissfully oblivious to the full meaning of Kodama's words. "Yes," she said softly. "Hikari's invited me to stay the night."

Kodama quirked an eyebrow, though whether it was at how much quieter Asuka was than she might have expected or the fact that it was pretty obvious the redhead had actually invited herself over, Hikari didn't know.

"I see," Kodama said. "Well, have fun then, and please don't wake up Nozomi. She just went to bed."

Asuka and Hikari nodded and then headed up to Hikari's room.

"Asuka," Hikari spoke softly as they climbed the stairs, "not that I mind having you sleep over, but why are you here?"

"I just couldn't stay in that apartment tonight," Asuka replied. "Not with them."

Hikari quirked an eyebrow but didn't ask why she felt that way. The pig-tailed girl slid open the door to her room and the pair entered.

"Oh, you have a Sega?" Asuka said, noticing the video game console sitting on Hikari's floor.

"Uh, yeah," Hikari answered, even though the Second Child was already switching the Sega on.

Two hours of watching Asuka play Wing Annihilator later, and the Second Child was finally read to go to bed. Relieved, Hikari turned off the light and the two girls climbed into their futon.

"I'm sorry about imposing on you like this," Asuka said softly, not facing her friend in the dark.

"It's okay," Hikari responded.

"I couldn't succeed with EVA," Asuka said softly. "I tried so hard and sacrificed so much, and in the end I was beaten by the winged wonder. Even Shinji did better with EVA than I did. That's why I couldn't stay at Misato's apartment. Every time I look at him, I see how he's beaten me, how I've failed. They're going to replace me as soon as they find the Fifth Child, I just know it. I'm useless. I hate myself."

Feeling vaguely nauseous but determined not to show it, lest Asuka wonder why, Hikari replied, "You tried your best. You should be proud of yourself."

Asuka didn't say anything in response. Instead, the redhead curled up into a small ball and began to sob quietly.

Hikari's eyes slid shut, feeling anguish well up within her. The irony was sharp enough to be painful. Asuka, desperate to escape the reminder of her failures she saw in Shinji, had run straight to…Spirit.

Knowing that any comfort she gave her friend now would turn into pain and outrage should the Second Child ever found out who she was, Hikari just stared up at the ceiling as Asuka sobbed.

_Did I do this?_ Hikari wondered as she listened to Asuka cry. _If I had stayed out of more of the battles, maybe Asuka would've killed more Angels and wouldn't be like this now. Did I do too much? I was only trying to help…_

Hikari sighed, knowing that this night would be far longer than any she had yet endured.

* * *

Life had lost its luster for Ritsuko Akagi, and yet she plodded along anyway. Being as scientific minded as she was, the faux blonde tended to think that her actions were the product of a kind of inertia, which somehow made it easier for her to keep going.

Such coping mechanisms were becoming more and more necessary for her, and the news her grandmother was delivering to her wasn't helping.

"I see," she said into the phone, "so that cat is dead. Well, thank you for taking care of it for me, grandmother."

"You really should come visit soon," her grandmother chided. "It's been too long, and you haven't been to your mother's grave in forever."

"It has been three years," Ritsuko agreed tiredly. "I'll come as soon as I can get away from here for a while."

"That's good to hear," her grandmother replied. "Now, if you can just be the one to reach out more often…"

"I'll call you next time, grandmother," Ritsuko promised.

It was a vow she had no real intention of keeping, not that she ever expected to face any kind of consequences for it, not even a lecture. Writing blank checks was an easy thing to do with the end of the world drawing near, Ritsuko had discovered.

She bid her mother good-bye and hung up, sighing as she did so.

"So even cats can die," Ritsuko muttered.

_This can't go on,_ she thought. _Inertia can only propel an object on Earth for so long before other factors bring it to a halt. But how can I stop?_

* * *

"What a mess," Hikari mused aloud as she walked through a small public park.

Everything had just seemed to be going downhill since the Thirteenth Angel. From her shooting herself in the foot with Toji, to Shinji getting punished every time he helped Spirit, to Asuka going berserk and then falling into depression, it just was all bad. The situation with Asuka in particular was starting to look very grim; the Second Child hadn't gone to school that morning, instead just remaining in Hikari's room and playing video games. It was like she had just given up.

The relentless urge to seek out Adam wasn't helping, either, nor was the fact that she woke up every morning grappling fiercely with it.

So she'd gone out on a walk that evening, hoping to clear her head. She knew what she really needed to do to achieve that end was to go for a flight, to bask in the feeling of pure freedom that came with soaring through the sky, with no objective other than enjoying the experience. Venturing far enough away from the city so that she couldn't hear the call of Adam for a while wouldn't have hurt, either. But flying carried a greater risk than she was willing to take, so she walked instead.

"Are you all right?"

Hikari turned suddenly and spied a petite woman with short, dark hair sitting on a nearby park bench. Judging by the pads she wore and the roller blades on her feet, it was obvious what she was doing in the park.

"Yes, I'm fine, thank you," Hikari answered politely.

"You just looked a bit lost," the woman commented.

"No, not really lost, just…lost in thought," Hikari replied.

"Want to talk about it?" the woman asked with a small smile.

Hikari heard her mother's old warnings about talking to strangers echoing in her head, but she shrugged them off. The women on the bench certainly didn't look dangerous, and even if she did have bad intentions, it wasn't as though Hikari had any real reason to worry.

"I have a lot of problems right now, that's all," Hikari said, sitting down on the bench. "Boy problems, problems with friends, and…other problems. Weird problems."

The other woman smiled. "I know about weird problems."

"Not like these," Hikari said tiredly.

"I wouldn't be so sure," the woman responded. "I'm Maya, by the way."

"Hikari," she introduced herself with a small bow. She looked out at the city. "Lately I've found myself having to do things I never even thought about a few months ago. It's becoming…more complicated than I ever expected."

"Ah," Maya replied. "Well, I know a thing or two about having responsibility that I never asked for thrust upon me. It can feel really unfair, can't it?"

"Yeah," Hikari replied softly.

Maya nodded. "But sometimes you just have to," she said, seeming to be speaking to herself as much as Hikari. "Because some things just have to be done, for the good of everyone, so you have to do it because there's no one else who can or will."

Hikari nodded, unable to deny the truth of Maya's words. The fact that her love life was still nonexistent and that her best friend was in a less than cheerful state didn't change the fact that Spirit had done real good. People were alive who wouldn't be if Hikari had never become Spirit, and there was no guarantee than Shinji and Asuka would be doing better without her interference than they were. In fact, for all she knew, things could be much worse.

The relentless pressure of resisting the call of Adam had caused her to forget that, but the fact was, aside from the blunders she couldn't have known to avoid at the time, she wouldn't do anything different if she had it do over again.

She smiled. "You're right," she said. "Arigato, Maya-san."

"You're welcome," Maya replied.

Feeling a good bit better than she had when she'd arrived in the park, Hikari got up from the bench, bid Maya good-bye, and walked home.

* * *

When NERV detected the Sixteenth Angel just as it was passing the defensive line at Goura, they found it to be one of the strangest ones they'd encountered yet. An enormous, spinning ring made from a glowing double helix, it was impossible to guess anything about the newest threat to humanity other than that it doubtlessly had some kind of nasty surprise up its nonexistent sleeves.

The strangeness and unpredictability of the glowing halo might have added to the tension everyone in the command center felt as they watched the Angel advance. Of course, the current absence of the Operations Director wasn't helping matters any, either. With Misato still en route, the task of preparing for the coming battle fell to Makoto more or less by default, and the bespectacled tech performed the task as adequately as he able.

"Units Zero and One are to move to the intercept position via gates five and six, respectively," Makoto ordered. "Unit Three will head through gate 12 and provide backup. Unit Two, await at your present position."

"No," Gendo ordered. "Sortie Unit Two through gate number eight. It can act as a decoy if nothing else."

"Uh, yes, sir," Makoto said, clearly unsure about this order but having no other choice but to comply.

* * *

"I'm still connected to this thing," Asuka said softly to herself as Unit Two rocketed upwards. "I can still do this."

She had the red titan clench and unclench its hand, as if to prove the truth of her words to herself. The connection between the Second Child and Evangelion Unit Two was indeed still present, though it was faint. Fainter than it had been in many years.

But so long as the connection existed and the Fifth Child remained unfound, Asuka still had a chance. She could redeem herself. She could be the Great Asuka Langley Soryu again.

"This is your last chance, Asuka," she told herself as Unit Two reached the surface. "Make it count."

* * *

Misato suddenly burst into the command center. Ritsuko turned and regarded the Ops Director with a scowl. "You're late."

"Sorry, no excuse," Misato said curtly. "Status report?"

"The Angel's pattern keeps cycling from blue to orange," Makoto replied immediately.

"What does that mean?" Misato asked.

"Unknown. The MAGI don't have sufficient data to reach any conclusions," Maya answered.

"But I'm positive that shape isn't fixed," Ritsuko added.

"I'm detecting a red/blue pattern!" Maya suddenly reported.

"Confirmed! Spirit's heading toward the Angel's position," Aoba added.

Commander Ikari mercifully did not issue any new orders in response to this development, something Misato was very grateful for.

"We can't attack this thing first," Misato declared. "Shinji, Rei, we'll just observe it for a while. Hopefully Spirit will decide to just watch and wait, too."

"Uh, Misato…" Shinji began.

"It's coming," Rei said.

The Angel ceased its spinning, and the twin threads merged until it formed a single rope of blue light. The ring broke, the Angel transforming from a halo to a serpent, and one end of it lashed out…

* * *

Spirit gasped as she watched the Angel strike, heading straight toward Unit One with speed that should have been impossible for something as large as it was. Shinji was apparently just as shocked, because Unit One didn't move.

Unit Zero, on the other hand, did.

The blue giant shoved Unit One hard, sending the purple and green colossus sprawling out of the path of the Angel. Unfortunately, there wasn't enough time left for Rei to get her own EVA out of the way, and the end of the Sixteenth Angel plunged into Unit Zero's abdomen rather than that of its chosen target.

"Rei!" Spirit cried as she witnessed vein-like bulges starting to appear on Unit Zero's body.

She flew forward, intent of showing the Angel the business end of a few cross-blasts, but she wasn't fast enough to beat Asuka.

Unit Two suddenly charged forward, Asuka screaming a battle cry as she advanced on the enemy. The effortless grace that the Second Child had once commanded the first production model Evangelion with was gone; Unit Two almost looked drunk as it ran, barely going in a straight line and staggering awkwardly, but it was trying to attack the Angel anyway, progressive knife in hand.

For a moment, everyone observing really did believe that Asuka would save the day. The command center of NERV was dead silent as they watched the insane and yet somehow glorious charge of Unit Two. Spirit, Shinji, and Toji all stopped, waiting dumbly to see what Asuka would do.

Then the Second Child made the understandable but terrible mistake of raising her AT field. The air shimmered around Unit Two, and the Angel immediately pounced, the free end striking like a snake. Seeing it coming, Asuka tried to stop, to dodge, but her sync ratio had fallen too far and she didn't have enough control over her EVA to pull it off. All she succeeded in doing was stumbling, and the end of the Angel plunged into Unit Two's torso, the veins spreading beneath the EVA's armor.

"No!" Asuka screamed. "Not again! Not again! _Stay out of my mind!_"

The three other combatants were immediately jolted back into action by this cry. Units One and Three immediately began firing at the Angel with their pallet rifles, while Spirit again began to fly toward the Angel as quickly as she could, readying a cross blast.

It soon became clear that the massive shells from the pallet rifles were failing to do anything to the Angel, and Unit One dropped its gun, the left shoulder pylon opening and revealing its progressive knife. The purple behemoth drew the weapon and stabbed part of the Angel, evicting a massive spurt of blood from the Angel…and a pair of screams from Asuka and Rei.

Shinji immediately ceased his attack, and Spirit allowed the ball of light that was forming in her palm to die. Toji even stopped firing his pallet rifle, useless though it was.

The same thought went through the minds of the winged girl and two male EVA pilots: _What am I going to _do?!

Spirit was the only one who came up with an answer to that question, and she grimaced the moment she did so.

"I'm going to regret this," she muttered to herself.

The winged girl began to pour as much power as she could into her AT field, trying to make herself as tempting a target for the Angel as possible, hoping it would abandon its hold on Units Zero and Two for her.

At first, there was no change in the Angel's behavior.

"Come on, you monster. Come on," Spirit said, starting to pant as she put every ounce of energy she had into her AT field. Then, without evening thinking about, she added, "I am of Adam. I possess the Fruit of Life. I'm the one you really want."

As though it had heard her, the Angel slowly withdrew from Unit Zero, the veins vanishing from the EVA as the Angel pulled out of it. Unit Zero slumped down to the ground once it was freed, Rei's soft groans carrying to most of Tokyo-3 over the EVA's external speakers.

Once out of Unit Zero, the newly freed end of the Angel flashed out toward Spirit.

"And here's the part where I regret doing that!" Spirit exclaimed, turning and flying away from the pursuing Angel as quickly as she could.

In nearly all of her battles, Spirit had been able to use her relatively tiny size and great speed to her advantage, but this Angel was so fast that it was taking everything she had just to keep the end of the glowing rope from slamming into her like some kind of phosphorescent battering ram. She knew that she couldn't start Third Impact without wanting to, but she still had no desire to find out what would happen to her if the Angel collided with her.

And she couldn't attack the Angel until it had relinquished its hold upon Unit Two as well.

"Come on, chase me!" Spirit taunted the Angel, even as she struggled to keep it from gaining on her.

Time seemed to elongate as Spirit put every bit of strength that she had into flying as fast as she could, the wind rushing past her so quickly that she had to squint against it and the city blurring beneath her. Later on, she wouldn't be able to say how long she had tried to get the Angel to release Unit Two. It couldn't have been for more than a few seconds, but it felt like several minutes passed to her.

Then the Angel abruptly slowed down, and time returned to its normal flow. Frowning as she realized she was putting distance between herself and the Angel, Spirit dared to look back…and groaned loudly at what she saw.

Rather than letting go of Unit Two like it had Unit Zero, the Angel was actually dragging the red giant along with it as it tried to continue its pursuit of the winged wonder, Unit Two stumbling along clumsily as it was pulled.

"Oh, come on! You've got to be kidding me!" Spirit exclaimed in frustration.

While Spirit was wondering what she could possibly do _now,_ Unit One appeared on the scene, rushing to catch up with Unit Two. Shinji grabbed Asuka's EVA in a full nelson, and then looked up at Spirit expectantly.

The free end of the Angel twisted, pointing toward Unit One, before coming back around to point at Spirit, looking for all the world like some kind of improbable snake trying to decide which potential prey would make the better meal.

Spirit strengthened her AT field as much as she was able once more, and that made up the Angel's mind. It again surged forward, only to snap taut a moment later as Shinji kept Unit Two from being pulled any further.

Asuka screamed as her EVA became involved in a bizarre tug of war, the Angel apparently unwilling to release Unit Two even as it struggled toward Spirit.

Then, with a final shriek from Asuka, the end of the Angel abruptly slid out of Unit Two, leaving the EVA looking totally undamaged. Judging from the way it slumped in Unit One's grip, however, it was apparent that Asuka wasn't ready to return to battle.

Not that Spirit had very much time to observe what was going on with Unit Two, as she had to fly as quickly as she possibly could to avoid the Angel.

_Finally, I can attack you without hurting my friends!_ Spirit thought, relieved. She fired a cross blast from her hand directly behind herself, right at the Angel.

And the Angel dodged, twisting its body about to neatly evade the blast of white energy while barely slowing down. It had had all of a half second to react, and it hadn't even been touched by the attack.

_Uh-oh!_

She unleashed another cross blast, only to have the Angel dodge just as nimbly as it had before.

_Okay, fine!_ Spirit thought, gritting her teeth. _Let's see if you can avoid a double!_

Two spheres of white light formed, one in each of her hands. Spirit took careful aim, quickly figuring out how she could cover the greatest area with the double attack. Then, with a roar that she couldn't even hear over the intense roar of the wind, Spirit fired the pair of cross blasts.

The Angel instantly twisted itself into a crazy, seemingly impossible shape, somehow managing to avoid the twin energy attacks. And to add insult to injury, it barely had to slow to down as it did so, allowing Spirit to put little or no extra distance between herself and it.

_Crap!_

At a loss for any other ideas to destroy the Angel, Spirit was reduced to circling the city at top speed, a hummingbird fleeing from a flying snake as she just tried to keep herself from being killed.

_Come on, Spirit! You have to think of something or you'll tire out eventually and the Angel will get you!_ She urged herself after what she was fairly sure was her sixth circuit around the circumference of Tokyo-3. _Either that or hope that NERV figures out something…_

At that very moment, two huge balls of light suddenly soared through the sky, missing both herself and the Angel by a wide margin. Spirit looked down to see Unit Three holding the same huge, high-tech gun that Asuka had tried to use against the Fourteenth Angel in the Geofront.

_I appreciate the effort, Toji-kun, but you'll never manage to shoot this thing,_ she thought. _It's too fast, too agile, and too thin. If only I could make it an easier target to…_

And that was when it hit her. It was so simple that Spirit wondered why she hadn't figured it out earlier. She grinned wickedly.

_All right, Angel. You want me? Come and get me!_

The winged girl altered her flight pattern, totally abandoning the simple laps she was making around the city and replacing them with a crazed series of aerial acrobatics which seemed to have neither rhyme nor reason. She did loop-de-loops, cartwheels, figure eights, barrel rolls, and abrupt U-turns. She doubled back, performed sharp ninety degree turns, and sudden twists. And all the while she just managed to keep going fast enough to prevent the end of the Angel from catching up to her.

Then, she suddenly stopped and turned around, hovering in midair high above the city. The end of the Angel rushed toward her, closing the gap between them to a mere arm's length in under a second.

And then it stopped, unable to advance any further. Spirit laughed as she looked at her foe. Thanks to her crazed flight path, its single minded pursuit of her, and its unique body shape, the Angel had become hopelessly tangled in itself. The glowing blue monster that had looked so frightening a moment before now seemed almost comical as it struggled to free itself, only pulling the various knots it had gotten itself into tighter in the process.

Spirit raised a hand, almost as if she were waving good-bye to the Angel. White light formed in front of it, and a cross blast slammed into the Angel, hitting it easily. The still tangled beast went careening toward the Earth, where it slammed into one of the weapons blocks, smashing it to rubble before it landed on the ground.

She was about to head down to finish it, but Unit Three was closer. Toji showed the Angel the business end of the positron rifle he was carrying and pumped the trigger three times, firing from near point-blank range.

The Sixteenth Angel exploded spectacularly, a massive ball of flame blooming where it had been as the positrons annihilated much of it in a matter-antimatter reaction, causing the core to go critical and adding to the light show. Unit Three was soon engulfed in the fireball, but it was unscathed when the flames dissipated, having been protected by its AT field. There was nothing left of the Sixteenth Angel.

Spirit sighed in relief, then grinned. Laughing as the tension of the last few minutes drained away in a rush, the winged heroine descended until she was roughly eye to eye with Unit Three and blew a kiss at the pilot, remembering fondly how she'd saved him and Kensuke during the Fourth Angel's attack.

Unit Three, somehow managing to look just a tad awkward despite the fact that it was a seventy meter tall weapon of mass destruction, slowly waved back at her.

Giggling, Spirit took off, heading for home now that her job was done. _Feels almost like old times,_ she thought.

She wouldn't have been nearly so cheerful had she known what had been lost in the battle.

* * *

The pale blue light that bathed everything within NERV Medical was meant to instill calm and tranquility in both patients and visitors. However, given the kinds of things that happened in the ward, the kinds of news that the doctors sometimes had to convey, the blue light was often simply outmatched. This was one of those times.

"A near catatonic state?" Misato asked fearfully.

"I'm afraid so," Dr. Yoshimora said sympathetically. "We've already performed an MRI scan and a slew of other tests. There's no physical cause we can detect. It seems as though the problem is within her mind."

Silence fell within the hospital room for several moments, broken only by the regular beeping of the heart monitor. Shinji and Rei, who flanked Misato, gazed down sadly at the figure in the medical bed.

Asuka was laying on her back, clothed in a hospital gown. Her omnipresent A-10 connectors were absent, which made her look more un-Asuka-like than anything else could…anything else, save for the totally empty look in her unfocused blue eyes, which gazed up at the ceiling without seeing it.

"Do you have any idea when she'll wake up?" Misato spoke into the heavy silence.

"None, unfortunately," Dr. Yoshimora said. "Maladies of the mind are always far more unpredictable than those of the body. And as unresponsive as she is, treatment will be nearly impossible. She'll need to find her own way back to the light."

"I see," Misato said. "Please, inform me if there's any change."

"Of course," Dr. Yoshimora agreed.

Misato bowed slightly to the doctor and then walked out, followed by Shinji and Rei. None of them said anything as they entered an elevator which began to descend, the counter clicking as they passed floors.

"I guess it's not a huge surprise," Misato finally spoke up in a strained voice. "Asuka obviously wasn't very stable after the Fifteenth Angel. The way she disregarded my orders to hold position and did that wild charge proves it. I suppose this was just too much for her…"

"Why did my father have to order Unit Two into combat?" Shinji asked. "We had three other Evangelions."

Misato wasn't sure whether he was posing his question to her or the world in general, but she answered anyway. "Only your father knows why he did that," she said bitterly. "Though personally I'm inclined toward taking him at face value, at least on this. Hyuga told me that he said she could be used as a decoy."

Silence fell for another long moment. This time, it was Shinji who finally broke it. "Rei?" he asked. "Did you…I don't know…when the Angel was inside Unit Zero…did you…?"

He trailed off, unsure how to phrase the question. Rei soon deduced what he wanted to know, however, and answered him. "Yes," she said softly. "The Angel took on my form and spoke to me. It tried to convince me to become one with it, and made me feel loneliness and the fear of death in an attempt to persuade me. It was…not a pleasant experience."

The tremble in her voice as she finished was slight, but Shinji and Misato both caught it. They traded a quick glance. If the experience could shake the unflappable Ayanami, then it really must have been bad.

The doors to the elevator finally slid open as they reached the parking deck. Misato offered Rei a ride back to her apartment, which the First Child accepted. It was a very quiet car trip.

To say that they had been on good terms with the German girl would have been a lie, but the three of them had still cared for her in some fashion or another. All of them had witnessed and been the object of the occasional acts of kindness from Asuka, seeing hints of the girl that lay beneath the Second Child's often belligerent facade. To see her laying limp in that hospital bed, her mind overwhelmed by the horrors of the war, had been nothing short of heart wrenching.

They soon arrived at Rei's dilapidated apartment building and climbed out of the car. Rei gave them both a small, polite bow. "I will see you later," she said.

"Wait a moment, Rei," Shinji spoke up, just as Rei was about to turn and head inside.

She eyed him curiously.

"In the future, I'd prefer it if you didn't throw yourself into harm's way like you did today," he said. "But all the same, thank you very much for pushing my EVA out of the Angel's path, Rei."

He bowed, and Rei's cheeks turned a delicate pink. "You are…welcome," she replied, then retreated into her apartment building more quickly than was strictly necessary.

In more auspicious times, Misato would have spent the drive to their own apartment teasing Shinji mercilessly about making the normally impassive First Child blush. But with Kaji dead and Asuka in the state she was currently in, his purple haired guardian couldn't summons the energy for it.

"So, how are you doing, Shinji-kun?" she asked him instead.

"Huh?"

"I asked how you're doing," Misato repeated. "I know you got off pretty easy this time, but you've been fighting the Angels longer than any of the other pilots. I want to know how you're holding up."

Shinji almost responded that he was fine without thinking about it but checked himself at the last moment. "I'm…tired," he answered instead.

Misato couldn't blame him. Having the weight of the world's on one's shoulders like the EVA pilots did would quickly leave even a professional soldier emotionally fatigued, let alone a fourteen-year-old boy who'd never asked for the job to begin with. Not for the first time, Misato wished with all her might that she didn't have to send children out to combat the Angels.

"I don't know how much longer I can keep going, keep piloting EVA," Shinji confessed. "Misato…does that make me a coward?"

"No!" Misato exclaimed. "No, it doesn't, Shinji-kun. You've been on the front lines of this war for a long time. It's no surprise you feel that way."

_Poor Shinji-kun. He just wasn't made for war,_ Misato thought, mentally echoing a sentiment expressed by countless people both at NERV and Shinji's school. _Still, he's done pretty damn well at it for someone so gentle._

"I don't think there are many more Angels, Shinji-kun," she said as reassuringly as she was able.

"I hope not," Shinji replied.

* * *

Up in her apartment, Rei Ayanami lay on her bed, lost in thought. She thought about Asuka, laying helpless in that hospital bed. She thought about the disapproving glare Commander Ikari had given her after the battle, as he noted that she hadn't been ordered to push Unit One out of the Angel's path. She thought about Shinji's words of thanks.

_Would the third have pushed Unit One out of the way?_ She mused, wondering what would have happened if Commander Ikari had replaced her after the battle against the Fourteenth Angel as she'd expected him to.

It was irrelevant, since she hadn't been harmed, and Shinji wouldn't have been either, she assumed. Yet, the idea that Rei III probably would have let the Angel attack Unit One disturbed her. After all, should the Commander bring the next incarnation of her on-line, there was little doubt he would do so with an old memory scan of hers, possibly even from before the Third had arrived.

While the Angel had been in her mind, it had taunted her about how deplorable living life in constant fear of death was. She had to admit that it had had a point.

Now Rei found she had another reason to want to keep living. She didn't want to be replaced and leave her allies with a more apathetic version of herself at their sides.

The First Child got off her bed and picked up the Commander's glasses, which had lain on her dresser for months. A thin coat of dust had built up on them, but Rei paid it no heed as she examined the damaged spectacles.

Reaching a decision, Rei released her hold on the glasses. They fell to the apartment's hard floor, the already damaged lenses shattering upon impact.

* * *

"The SEELE council isn't pleased with this latest turn of events," Fuyutski said. "The fact that the Angel made contact with two of the pilots, and that it left the Second Child in her current state…"

"There is little the council can do at this stage," Gendo said. "And by the time they feel that they are in a position of strength, they will discover that there is nothing they can do to prevent my scenario from reaching completion."

Fuyutski arched an eyebrow at this. His former student's actions had been puzzling of late, and Gendo had regained his old confidence for no reason that the former professor could see.

_What are you planning, Ikari?_ He wondered.

"What are you going to do about their demand to see Rei? They've said that they wish to question her about what she experienced when the Angel made first level contact with her," Fuyutski said.

The demand seemed reasonable on the face of it, but both Commanders knew better. If SEELE was really that interested about what went on inside the minds of the Angels, they would have asked to speak to the Second Child after her encounter with the Fifteenth Angel, brief though it had been. No, SEELE wanted to speak to Rei because she was an important part of Gendo's scenario.

Not that Gendo would ever allow the First Child into the virtual meeting room, especially not with how uncontrollable Rei had become of late.

"That will not be a problem," Gendo said. "I have given them something else to consider."

* * *

Ritsuko hated _everything_ as she stood before the SEELE monoliths, as naked as the day she was born.

"We wish to proceed peacefully," SEELE-01 one said, the lecherousness that was detectable even in spite of the voice distortion putting the lie to his words. "We don't wish for you to suffer needless embarrassment."

"I'm not embarrassed," Ritsuko lied defiantly.

"A strong tempered woman," SEELE-03 said with a barely repressed chortle. "It's natural that Ikari wants to keep her by his side."

"However, it is none other than Ikari who presented you to us," SEELE-09 said.

"Indeed," SEELE-01 agreed. "He was quite insistent that we not interrogate the pilot of Unit Zero, despite the fact that she may have communicated with an Angel. He presented you as her replacement, Doctor."

_I'm Rei's replacement?_

* * *

Shinji responded at once to the sound of the phone ringing in the kitchen, foolishly hoping that it was NERV Medical calling to tell them that Asuka was awake.

"Hello?"

"Listen very closely," said a familiar voice. "For the next twenty minutes, you'll be completely free of Section Two surveillance. You can go immediately. Meet me at the number two Geofront access point."

"Ritsuko?" Shinji asked in confusion.

* * *

She regarded them silently, the dozens upon dozens of clones, all floating aimlessly through the amber LCL. On an intellectual level she knew, of course, that they weren't really alive in all senses of the word. Lacking minds and souls, the clones were really just breathing pieces of meat, empty receptacles waiting to be filled with the knowledge and the that spark of life that would make them truly human.

But that didn't make the idea of what she planned to do to the things as they giggled emptily at her seem any less wrong.

The door to the Dummy Plug core production plant suddenly opened with a soft whooshing sound, and she turned quickly, her heart hammering, certain that it was the Commander.

"Rei?" a bewildered Dr. Akagi asked as she entered the chamber.

Before Rei could even attempt to make any kind of response, Shinji and Misato appeared behind the faux blonde, their eyes widening as they took in the clones.

"What the hell is all this?" Misato asked.

The question had been directed at Akagi, but Rei spoke up before the scientist could. "They are exact genetic clones of myself," she explained. "In the event I should die or become unstable, Commander Ikari is capable of transferring my soul and a copy of my memories to any one of them. They also serve as the cores of the Dummy System."

"But…but why did NERV need Shinji and Asuka and Toji to pilot if the Commander can just make Rei's?" Misato asked slowly, clearly still overwhelmed.

"A soul is needed to animate the bodies, and there were no more to be had. The Chamber of Gauf was empty," a very confused Ritsuko explained. "Rei, what are you doing here? It's not time for your upload."

"I believe that it is safe to say that I have become unstable in Commander Ikari's eyes. However, I find that I do not wish to die, even though I will be reincarnated," Rei explained. "Therefore, I have come to make myself irreplaceable."

She pushed a button on a small remote control that she was holding…and the clones began to fall apart within the tank of LCL, staining the amber liquid crimson as they bled. Their grins never wavered as they dissolved.

"My god," Misato breathed.

"I hope you will not think less of me for having seen this," Rei said softly, looking down at the floor.

"N-no, of course not," Shinji stammered, obviously still trying to wrap his mind around what he had just witnessed. "It's only right…that you should want to survive, I mean. This isn't your fault. My father forced you into this position, didn't he?"

"Yes," Rei answered. "You could say that."

Before either Shinji or Misato could make any kind of further comment, Ritsuko began to snicker.

"What the hell are you laughing at?!" Misato demanded, appalled.

"I'm sorry," Ritsuko said, even as her snickering grew into loud chuckles. "But it's just…too funny! Rei's got Ikari in the ultimate catch-22! After an offense of this magnitude, he practically _has_ to replace her! But because of this offense, he _can't_! It's just…it's just…!"

The bottle blonde never did tell them what it just was, because she was consumed by a hysterical fit of laughter. Misato, Shinji, and Rei all slowly backed away from the cackling scientist.

"Come on," Misato said to the pilots. "Let's get out of this place. We're done here."

"What about Ritsuko?" Shinji asked quietly.

"Leave her to her triumph," Misato answered grimly.

* * *

Author's Notes: And another chapter down. Now only one Angel remains before we move into EoE territory. Anyway, Gendo appears to be totally screwed at this point, but is he really? You'll just have to wait and see.

On another note, I've received a few questions about what I'm going to do in regards to pairing Shinji in this fic. Originally I had planned to ignore this matter completely, since this isn't supposed to be Shinji's story. However, I realized that it would just be plain lazy on my part to never show a glimmer of attraction between him and any of the female characters. After all, in the series, Rei _died_ for him at this point. I felt I had to do something to reflect the display of her feelings for him in the episode, hence Rei pushing Unit One out of the way and the scene outside her apartment. Anyway, the Third Child will probably experience one or two more moments of awkward attraction before this over. But I have no plans to firmly pair him with anyone by the end of this, so don't get your hopes up on that front.

To those of you that were hoping to see Asuka climb out of her pit of despair without hitting rock bottom in this manner, I'm sorry, but I pretty much needed her in this state for the EoE part of this fic.

In case anyone's interested, the scene where Hikari bumps into Maya at the park was the one I'd originally written for last chapter. It just seemed to work better after Asuka tearfully poured out her troubles to Hikari, since our heroine would be more likely to need help deciding to keep at it after that.

NefCanuck, Fuyutski's meeting with SEELE had pretty much the same implications as they did in the series. Namely, Kaji has to rescue him and gets killed in retaliation for it. If it seemed mysterious and ominous, it's just because I cut out the parts where he was having flashbacks (i.e. almost all of it).

Zoro50, I admit I haven't been consistent on the matter of whether or not this Rei is the Silver Surfer and should have thought the matter through more. She obviously was the Surfer when she saved Spirit from the Ghost Rider a few chapters back, but I realized I need her to not be now. So…she's not. Call the Surfer's appearance a one shot cameo and the little hints just tributes to "Lilith's Herald," call them bad writing, but that's how it is.

Reform Joms, canon Shinji was working on a spine in the middle of the series, but starting at around the Twelfth Angel or so, he just kept getting ruined every episode and unsurprisingly regressed. Since that hasn't happened here, and because he's given up his futile quest for daddy's love, he's developing much further. Also, the Dummy Plug cancellation isn't meant to be a nod to "Treacherous Web." It's just Gendo being Gendo and tossing away something that's useless to him, despite the fact that it's Ritsuko's masterwork.

Damn, that was a long note. Okay, thanks as always to my readers and reviewers. Now let's have some fun!

* * *

Omakes

The Untroubled Sleep of the Innocent…

"Something about this place just doesn't feel right," Magical Girl Nozomi whispered to her companion.

"Oh, and what do you suppose that is? Maybe the fact that it's a giant, shadowy fortress of evil?" Spirit replied sarcastically, obviously on edge.

"No," Magical Girl Nozomi replied. "I think it's all the absurdly out of place kiddie decorations here…"

Indeed, the walls were covered with pictures of shooting stars with smiling faces, cuddly animals, and other adornments that would have looked perfectly normal in an infant's room. In the dark halls of the imposing fortress, however, they looked nothing short of bizarre.

"Well, we need to keep moving," Spirit said. "Suzuhara-kun is in here _somewhere_ and…"

She trailed off as a nearby door slowly slid open, the sound of gears grinding filling the hallway. Out of the door emerged…

"Oh, you have got to be kidding me," Spirit said.

A giant robotic bear faced them. It stood on its hind legs and in the place of its front paws were a pair of Gatling guns. The words "Bertrand Jr." were written in red on its chest.

"Spirit…is something wrong with my vision, or does that thing have giant buttons for eyes?" Magical Girl Nozomi asked.

"There's nothing wrong with your vision," Spirit replied, sweat dropping.

The bear robot suddenly opened fire with both of its guns, but the bullets bounced harmlessly off Spirit's AT field. The winged girl shot a cross blast out at the robot, destroying it instantly.

"Well," she said, dusting off her hands. "That was lame. Now, I wonder—"

Spirit was rudely interrupted by a beam of light hitting her, causing her to freeze in place. Magical Girl Nozomi gasped and turned in the direction the beam had come from. Her eyes narrowed as she regarded a toddler in red overalls and a yellow shirt, standing there holding some kind of crazy looking gun.

"Griffin," Magical Girl Nozomi said.

"Why hello there," Stewie greeted sardonically. "I see that your friend was able to defeat Bertrand Jr. Pity she didn't notice me and my paralysis ray!"

"Let her go!" Magical Girl Nozomi demanded.

"Oh, and who's going to make me?" Stewie asked. "You? Please, don't make me laugh!"

He fired his ray gun at her, only to have Magical Girl Nozomi dodge nimbly. He kept firing, but the sidekick went into a series of acrobatic flips, avoiding the beams with ease.

"What the deuce?!" Stewie exclaimed as he kept firing fruitlessly.

With a cry, Magical Girl Nozomi leapt down the hallway with an utterly impossible jump, easily kicking the gun from Stewie's grasp and knocking him down. The young, would-be overlord released a cry of consternation.

"Blast you!" he exclaimed.

"Now tell me where you're keeping Suzuhara-kun and how to unfreeze my sister!" Magical Girl Nozomi demanded.

"Fine," Stewie grumbled. "If you want to save them, all you need do is—"

* * *

Nozomi suddenly jolted awake.

"Awesome," the little girl breathed. "I need to watch Family Guy and kung-fu movies before I go to bed more often!"

* * *

Oopsie…

"Oh, what a night," a very hung over Misato groaned. "Did I really pretend I was you?"

"Yeah," Asuka replied, an amused smirk on her face. "You found this red wig that belongs to Shinji and starting calling yourself the 'Second Babe.'"

At the mention of the red wig, Misato's face paled suddenly. "Asuka, you can't tell anyone about Shinji's habits, understand?" she ordered sternly.

"Huh?" Asuka frowned, not understanding why the fact that Shinji went cosplaying should be a huge secret.

"The Commander ordered me to end Shinji's cross dressing tendencies even if I had to beat them out of him," Misato continued, not having noticed Asuka's confusion, "but I never had the heart. So Shinji's just been keeping it quiet. If you spread this around, both Shinji and me are in for a whole world of trouble."

"Shinji's a cross dresser!" Asuka exclaimed, looking like she'd just been told Christmas was coming early. "The baka told me that wig went with a Kenshin costume!"

Misato's eyes widened as she realized her blunder. "Uh, yeah, it is. I was just kidding about the cross dressing," she forced a chuckle. "Funny joke, huh?"

But it was no use. Asuka was already headed for Shinji's room. "Oh, Shinko!" she called out in a loud, singsong voice.


	20. Chapter 19

* * *

Disclaimer: Neon Genesis Evangelion is the creation of Anno and Gainax. I don't own it, make no claims to it, and am making no profit from the fan fiction. No infringement of copyright is intended. In other words, please don't sue.

* * *

Chapter Nineteen

In retrospect, Rei decided that her plan to prevent her termination by destroying her clones may have had a fatal flaw in it. Namely, that she had failed to seriously consider the possibility that Commander Ikari might decide to kill her anyway, either out of uncontrollable rage or a belief that with her so disobedient his scenario was doomed to failure anyway.

It wasn't that Rei had never even thought of these possibilities, it was that she'd discounted them out of hand. Not in all the time she'd known him, after all, had Gendo Ikari ever allowed his emotions to master him for even the briefest moment. And while the odds of his scenario coming to fruition did seem increasingly small, she had felt certain he would not trade in a slim chance for no chance, not after ten years of preparation.

Yet now, seeing the molten _rage_ in his eyes, not the least bit concealed by his orange glasses…

"Why did you do it?" Gendo practically snarled as he paced around his desk in agitation. "Why did you murder your sisters?"

"They were my sisters in the genetic sense only," Rei said. "In truth, they were little more than components for the Dummy System and potential replacements for myself."

"Why did you do it!" Gendo barked, his already thin patience not helped by Rei's dodge.

Rei flinched. "I did not wish to be replaced."

"So you thought that the best way to achieve this end was to destroy your clones," Gendo growled.

"I am no longer expendable," Rei said, hoping the reminder would cause him to rein in any urge to terminate her.

"Are you still ready to fulfill your ultimate purpose when the time to do so arrives?" Gendo asked, posing the question that Rei had feared.

The First Child hesitated, her awakened survival instinct warring with her deeply ingrained, albeit fraying loyalty to Gendo Ikari. She realized it was going to be much more difficult to lie to the man who had burned his hands in the process of rescuing her from Unit Zero's superheated entry plug than pressing the button to destroy her clones had been.

But lie she did.

"Y-Yes, sir."

Gendo's eyes narrowed and his right hand, the one closest to the desk drawer that Rei knew contained a firearm, twitched visibly. Rei winced, realizing she hadn't sounded terribly convincing.

Fortunately, Gendo didn't go for the gun. His rage seemed to leave him in a great rush and he sighed, looking deflated. "I can't believe that you would do this after everything I've done for you, Rei," he said softly.

Despite herself, Rei felt a stab of guilt at his words.

"Get out of my sight," Gendo ordered.

"Sir," Rei said with a small nod, quickly retreating from the massive room.

The instant she was gone, Gendo immediately dropped the depressed, discouraged front, the anger returning. "Damn it," he swore, softly but vehemently.

"We should destroy Adam and Lilith," Fuyutski spoke up quietly.

"What?" Gendo demanded sharply.

"The scenario's ruined," Fuyutski said. "Rei's not going to fulfill her part in it, unless stuttering has become a normal thing for her while I wasn't paying attention. With no replacement…Ikari, the best we can do at this point is to see to it that SEELE's scenario fails as well."

"The scenario is not ruined," Gendo said with a voice that could freeze lava. "It has been dealt a setback. That's all."

Before the old professor could make any kind of reply, Gendo got up and began heading for the door.

"Order Section Two to keep a closer eye of the First Child from now on," he said as he went. "I don't want the secret service to lose track of her for even an instant."

The Vice Commander sighed as Gendo departed, leaving him alone in the grim office. _Do you really think you can make Rei obedient again in the time left, Ikari?_ He wondered as he got on the phone to relay Gendo's orders.

* * *

"It just doesn't seem right," Hikari said softly.

"Yeah," Shinji agreed.

The two were visiting Asuka, who had shown no change since the battle against the Sixteenth Angel.

Hikari had known that going into the Geofront to see her friend wasn't the wisest of ideas, not with Adam down there, but when Shinji had offered to take her with him that day to Asuka's room, she didn't feel like she could refuse.

She was already starting to regret not making up some excuse, however. The call of Adam was nearly deafening so close to the First Angel, to the point Hikari was having difficulty thinking straight.

Yet even the All-Father's siren song couldn't mute the quiet horror she felt looking at Asuka in her current state. If seeing the Second Child all but begging to spend the night at her place had been wrong, seeing her laying motionless was practically blasphemous. She just looked so tiny and frail in that bed, and Asuka wasn't supposed to look like that. The pilot of EVA Unit Two was supposed to be larger than life, and full of fire.

_God, did everyone buy into the image she tried to project or was it just me who fell for it?_ Hikari wondered.

She suddenly realized that Shinji was saying something, but she couldn't seem to focus on it. It was almost like she couldn't hear Shinji or Adam, except that Adam produced no sound she could detect with her ears.

"What? Sorry…I was lost in thought," she said once the moment had passed.

"I said I tried to put her A-10 clips in, so she'd look more like herself," Shinji said, "but the nurses wouldn't let me."

Hikari nodded. "Is she ever responsive at all?" she asked.

"Sorta," Shinji answered softly. "She does anything she's told, so at least she's been spared certain, uh, indignities, but…"

The door opened before Shinji could find the words for what he wanted to say, and Rei entered. "Hello," she said softly.

They greeted Rei, and the First Child pulled up a chair and sat with them. Hikari thought that Rei looked pale…then remembered that Rei _always_ looked pale, cursed the call of Adam again, and realized that Rei looked more than pale. She had a grayish, unhealthy tint. Not that Rei had been looking so great recently, but this was a new low.

"Are you all right?" she asked.

"Fine," Rei answered.

They lapsed into silence for several seconds. Trying to distract herself from the call of Adam, Hikari allowed her eyes to wander about the room. Her gaze soon settled upon a small Get Well Soon card laying on Asuka's bedside table, which she picked up and opened.

"Toji sent this?" she asked with a slight, confused frown as she read the signature.

A small grin formed on Shinji's face. "Yeah. He and Asuka don't get along at all, if you didn't know. He's been calling her the red devil for a while now, but even he wouldn't have wished this on her," he explained. "I think he felt guilty about openly disliking her so much after…this happened."

Hikari couldn't help but smile at this new display of Toji's compassionate side.

"His guilt was misplaced," Rei said. "I think she actually enjoyed his dislike and the verbal sparring that came with it."

"That sounds like Asuka," Hikari said, the corners of her lips quirking upwards.

An orderly suddenly appeared at the door, cutting off any further conversation. "Time's up," he announced.

The three visitors nodded and made their way out of the Medical Ward. "Sorry," Shinji said as they stepped into an elevator. "Visiting hours aren't over yet, but security gets paranoid when people who aren't NERV personnel are around."

"It's all right," Hikari said. "I understand. So, the Fifth Child's been found, hasn't he?"

"Yeah," Shinji said. "His name is—"

"Kaworu Nagisa," Hikari finished.

Shinji frowned. "How did you know?"

Hikari smiled slightly. "He's been added to the class 2-A attendance sheet, since he's starting school Monday," she explained. "I figured it had to be him. I'm not hacking into the MAGI in my spare time or anything."

"Oh," Shinji said, looking a bit embarrassed.

The elevator reached their desired floor and opened with a ping. Shinji and Rei led Hikari to the parking deck and managed to get a Section Two car to take her home. Once their friend was off, the two EVA pilots headed back into headquarters.

* * *

Meanwhile, out by the shore of Lake Ashi, a boy with gray hair and red eyes sat upon a large rock, looking out at the blue water, humming Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. He looked behind himself but saw nothing.

Kaworu sighed. Shinji was supposed to have arrived, but the Third Child had never made an appearance.

"That which was preordained is not coming to pass," he mused aloud.

He supposed that he shouldn't be surprised; the signs that destiny was failing were all around him. Indeed, Tokyo-3 should have been a Golgotha at this point, ruined and broken as a city and all but shattered as a fortress, with the vaporized bones of countless lilin swirling through the air as so much dust.

Yet while the city clearly bore the scars of battle, it was still very much alive. So much so that Kaworu would have the unanticipated opportunity to attend what the lilin referred to as "school."

"Perhaps my stay here will be even more interesting than I had envisioned," he said to himself, getting off the rock.

Kaworu Nagisa walked off, hands in his pockets. His perpetual smile widened as he made his way back to the city, and he began to sing, the music causing his heart to swell.

"Well mine have seen the coming of the glory of the Lord! He hath loosened fateful lightning from His terrible swift sword! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! His truth is marching on!"

* * *

"Excuse me, are you the representative for this class?"

Hikari looked up and found herself staring in a pair of red eyes that did not belong to Rei Ayanami. Instead, a slim boy with gray hair and pale skin stood before her desk, smiling down at her.

"Yes, that's me," Hikari answered. "I'm Hikari Horaki. You must be Kaworu Nagisa. Welcome to class 2-A."

"Thank you, Hikari-chan," Kaworu said brightly.

His choice of honorifics caused Hikari to arch an eyebrow, but she decided against telling him off for it. _Maybe he just isn't very familiar with Japanese yet_, she mused. _He certainly doesn't look like he's from this country._

The problem was that he didn't look like he was from any country really, not with his unusual features. He looked like…

_Like Ayanami…and like me when I'm being Spirit,_ Hikari thought.

"Excuse me," Kaworu spoke up, still smiling. "I asked you where I should sit. Or am I allowed to choose?"

Silently chastising herself for zoning out, Hikari directed her attention back to the new student. "Why don't you have a seat over there?" she asked, gesturing to a vacant desk.

Kaworu looked to the seat she indicated, and then his eyes darted over to Shinji, who was at the other side of the room. His smile wavered noticeably, but he complied, heading over to his assigned desk.

Hikari's eyes narrowed as she watched him take his seat, sensing…something. Just the barest little twinge of her Angel senses.

_He's not a normal human,_ she thought.

While she had no doubt about this, Hikari didn't know what, if anything, she should do about it. After all, she'd been sensing similar faint twinges around Rei ever since the battle against the Thirteenth Angel, and Hikari had no fear that Rei would betray humanity. It would certainly explain the Fifth Child's strange features and somewhat eccentric behavior if he was essentially the male version of Rei. Still…

_I'll have to keep an eye on him,_ Hikari decided, just as Sensei walked in.

"Stand! Bow! Sit!"

* * *

The Fifth Child seemed determined to show all the remaining students of class 2-A how odd he was that morning, and overall he succeeded brilliantly. Nagisa obviously lacked even the most rudimentary grip of classroom protocol, which he demonstrated when he randomly began to sing in class, tried to say hello to the other pilots from across the room in the middle of Sensei's lectures, and at one point attempted to get up and leave the classroom without a word.

Of course, Hikari had little choice but to punish Kaworu for his impudence, and the Fifth Child was sentenced to having hold up buckets of water out in the hallway until lunch. Judging by his soft chuckles and the comments he made to himself, Nagisa appeared to find this very amusing.

At last, lunch break arrived, and Hikari and her friends assembled at their usual table in the schoolyard to eat. Shinji, she noticed, was looking around, as though searching for something.

"Lost something, Shin-man?" Toji asked before Hikari could comment.

"No," he answered. "I was just looking for Nagisa. I figured we should invite him to eat with us, since we're going to be working with him and everything."

"Perhaps he is still in the hallway with the buckets," Rei suggested.

Toji opened his mouth to dismiss the notion that Kaworu would continue enduring his punishment after he didn't have to anymore, but then the jock hesitated. "Actually, that might just be where he is."

Hikari sighed. "I'll go check. Be right back."

The class rep got up and headed back toward the building.

"Man, that Nagisa guy is so weird," Toji commented quietly as she walked off.

"Yeah," Kensuke agreed. "Seems like only weirdos can pilot EVA."

"What do you mean by that?!" Toji barked indignantly.

Hikari missed this loud outburst from crush, as she had already made it back into the hallway just outside classroom 2-A. She wasn't entirely surprised to find that Kaworu was indeed still holding the buckets, that smile still plastered on his face even as his legs shook with obvious weariness.

"Nagisa, you can put those down now," Hikari said. "It's the lunch period."

"I see," Kaworu grunted, setting the buckets down. "Thank you for telling me, Hikari-chan."

Hikari winced slightly. "Could you stop calling me '-chan' please? People will talk if you keep it up."

Kaworu frowned slightly, looking confused, but he readily agreed. "Very well."

"Thank you," Hikari said.

An awkward silence followed. Hikari cleared her throat after it dragged on for a few seconds. "Well, we should probably head into the yard," she said.

"You are like me."

"What?" Hikari asked, finding herself suddenly caught by his probing red gaze.

Kaworu's grin widened. "You are like me," he repeated. "And yet you are not like me as well. You are fortunate enough to possess a combination of gifts that I had believed impossible. How fascinating."

"Are you going to tell anyone?" Hikari asked softly.

"Do you want me to?"

"No."

Kaworu shrugged, as if to say that it didn't really matter much to him. "Then I shall honor your wish, half-sister."

And with that, he walked off, leaving Hikari standing in the hall, feeling stupefied. _Half-sister…why does being called that ring a bell?_ She wondered.

* * *

"This is incredible," Ritsuko breathed, as she looked over Maya's shoulder at the readout on the techie's terminal. "Are you sure this is correct?"

"I'm positive, sempai," Maya said, though she sounded just as stunned as the faux blonde.

"But this should be impossible," Ritsuko said.

"What?" Misato asked, coming up behind Ritsuko.

"These readings," Ritsuko answered, looking up and gazing out at the tubes that contained the test plugs. "The Fifth Child has the highest sync ratio, and we haven't even reconfigured Unit Two's core for him yet."

"What does it mean?" Misato asked.

_It means that he's probably the Seventeenth Angel,_ Ritsuko thought.

"I don't know," Ritsuko said.

Misato scowled, feeling certain that the scientist was lying to her again. Without a word, she turned and stormed out of the control room.

Maya gave Ritsuko a questioning look, and Ritsuko sighed. "Take over for me, please," she commanded her protégé, heading after the Operations Director.

She caught up to the violet haired woman in the hallway. "Misato—"

"I don't want to hear it, Rits," Misato cut her off. "You're just going to lie to me anyway."

"Why do you think that?" Ritsuko asked.

Misato gave her an incredulous look. "Well, you never did tell me the truth about my first pilot, for one," she scowled.

"Is this what this is all about?" Ritsuko asked.

"Not _all_ of it," Misato growled.

"I didn't do anything!" Ritsuko protested.

Misato's fists clenched. "I know that was only because Rei beat you to it. I'm not an idiot, Ritsuko."

Knowing she couldn't deny that she had planned to destroy the Rei clones with any sincerity, Ritsuko decided to take a different tact. "You don't seem to be angry at Rei about this incident," she said, sounding more sullen than she had expected. "And Rei was the one who actually pushed the button."

"Rei believed she would die if she didn't do it!" Misato snapped. "And for all I know, she could very well be right! Besides, at least Rei didn't think it was _funny_!"

"Whatever," Ritsuko grumbled, shaking her head. "I don't understand what more you want from me, Misato."

"I know there are more secrets in this place, Rits," Misato said darkly. "It's to be expected, in a place like this, but some of them are real whoppers. I have no doubt of that. Now are you going to tell me, or—"

"Don't go digging, Misato," Akagi warned. "You'll end up like Kaji if you do."

Misato eyes widened and her hand lashed out without her even thinking about it. The sound of her palm smacking Ritsuko's cheek echoed in the confined hallway. "Don't you mention him!" she spat.

"Fine," Ritsuko grumbled, turning and heading back to the control room.

* * *

Later that day, Kaworu emerged from the research and technical section of headquarters, finished with his tests for the day. His omnipresent smile faded when he entered the hallway that would take him back to the base proper, finding no one waiting for him.

_Not at all like it's supposed to happen, _he mused.

* * *

The next day after school, the group headed down to the mall together to hang out. Well, most of the group did, anyway. Asuka, of course, was still in NERV Medical, and Rei opted not to go. She told the others that she had homework she had been neglecting and had to see to, but Hikari felt fairly certain it was because Rei disliked the Fifth Child. Rei had told Hikari as much the other day, confessing that Kaworu's presence made her deeply uncomfortable for reasons she couldn't explain.

Hikari might have tried to cajole Rei into going, but in truth, she understood the First Child's discomfort. She herself might not have gone, if not for the fact that she was reluctant to leave the other boys alone with Kaworu.

At the moment, however, Hikari was concentrating on significantly less dour matters.

"Aw, man!" Kensuke exclaimed, bringing his fist down on the controls of one of a large arcade game in frustration. "She beat me again! I don't believe it! I thought girls were supposed to stink at video games!"

Hikari responded by laughing and then sticking her tongue out at the otaku, enjoying her victory.

"Well, Hikari is better at video games than most girls," Toji smirked, "but the fact that you stink at them probably isn't hurting, either."

Kensuke just groaned and got out of the machine. "You want next game, Nagisa?" he asked.

Kaworu looked at the game with a bemused expression. "I hope you'll excuse me, but what is the purpose of this activity?"

_He really is just like a male Rei,_ Hikari thought. _So why do I find him so damn creepy?_

Shinji blinked in confusion. "Uh, it's supposed to be fun."

Kaworu's ubiquitous smile widened. "I see. In that case, I'd be pleased to try it," he said gamely, taking the seat Kensuke had just vacated.

Then everyone waited for several seconds.

"Uh, Nagisa, you do know that you're supposed to put money into the machine, right?" Toji asked.

"No, I hadn't realized that," Kaworu said mildly. "And unfortunately I don't have any money with me."

The other four teenagers sweat dropped. "You went to a mall…with no money?" Kensuke asked slowly.

"Yes. Is that a problem?"

Hikari just sighed and leaned over, inserting two coins into the slot in front of Kaworu, before during the same thing with her game and selecting "VS battle."

"It's a fighting game," Hikari explained. "You pick a giant robot and we try and knock out the other person's robot."

"I see," Kaworu said as he browsed his potential options. "You lilin glorify simulated violence, even though abhorring real violence is seen as a virtue among you. Curious."

Hikari frowned. _Lilin. Why does it feel like I've heard that word before?_

However, before she could ask him and before one of the boys could inquire about the strange comment, Kaworu chose his robot, a recent addition to the game: Unit Two.

A very uncomfortable silence fell at this reminder of the fact that Kaworu had replaced Asuka as the pilot of the first production model Evangelion. Kaworu seemed cheerfully oblivious to to the uncomfortable atmosphere he'd created. Seeking to break the tension, Hikari quickly selected Nobel Gundam as her robot and started the fight.

Nagisa was terrible. He had no idea what he was doing and just hit buttons randomly. That could actually work fairly well with this particular game, but he did so at a very sedate pace, rather than with the frantic speed employed by the common button masher.

Hikari tried to go easy on him, she really did, but when it became clear that Kaworu wasn't going to put up any kind of decent fight, she decided to just finish him quickly. Deftly pressing the little known combination of buttons that would make Nobel Gundam go berserk, the class rep then sat back and watched while her girly Gundam tore apart Unit Two.

"Well, that was quite interesting," Kaworu commented once it was over, not the least bit deflated by his defeat. "Who shall challenge Hikari-san next?"

"Actually, it's getting late," Shinji said, looking at his watch. "We should probably head home."

"Yeah," Toji agreed. "I've spent too much already, anyway."

The group headed to a nearby train station and were soon homeward bound, getting off one by one. Hikari was just a little disturbed when she realized that Shinji and Kaworu would be the last two to disembark from the train.

* * *

"Are you all right, Shinji-kun?" Kaworu asked Shinji a few minutes after Hikari had left the train.

"Huh?" Shinji asked, looking up.

"You seemed to have grown sad while we've ridden," Kaworu explained, still smiling. "I was wondering what was troubling you."

Shinji's lips quirked upwards slightly in amusement. The Fifth Child certainly was an odd one, but he was amicable enough. His tiny smile faded when he thought about the answer to Kaworu's question, though.

"I don't want to go home," he confessed.

"That you have a home to go to is a good fact," Kaworu said. "This will bring you joy."

_It used to,_ Shinji thought. The Katsuragi apartment had become a rather grim place as of late, with Asuka's conspicuous absence and Misato shutting herself up in her room almost constantly. Even Pen-Pen seemed to have been affected by the morose atmosphere in the place and rarely left his fridge.

"It's too quiet there lately," Shinji said softly.

The irony would have been amusing under different circumstances. After all, how many times had he wished for a little quiet? Quiet in which he could play his cello in. Quiet in which he could do his homework in. Quiet in which he could listen to his SDAT player in. Quiet in which he could simply relax. Yet now that the chaos and noise that had characterized his living space were gone, he found he missed them terribly.

Hell, he would gladly give up his SDAT player just to hear Asuka demand he cook lasagna instead of Japanese food for dinner at this point.

"If you wish, you could spend the night in my room in the Geofront," Kaworu offered.

"Sure," Shinji said after a few seconds of consideration. "Arigato."

* * *

The room in the Geofront that Kaworu had been assigned to was strictly utilitarian in appearance and very cramped; Kaworu's bed and Shinji's futon took up nearly every last bit of floor space. It was, Shinji mused, a rather depressing place to live.

_You would have been living in a room like this for months if Misato hadn't taken you in,_ a voice in his mind whispered and he winced at the thought of his guardian all alone in that big apartment.

"Are you comfortable, Shinji-kun?" Kaworu asked.

"I'm fine," Shinji replied.

"I still feel as though I should be the one on the floor," Kaworu said mildly.

"No," Shinji insisted. "I'm the guest. I'll sleep on the floor."

Silence reigned for a few moments in the room until Kaworu decided to prompt Shinji into speaking. "What do you want to say?" he asked. "There's something you want to tell me."

Shinji sighed. "I'm tired."

Kaworu blinked. This wasn't what he'd expected at all. Then again, he supposed he shouldn't be surprised by the unexpected at this point. "Then why don't you sleep?" he asked.

Shinji actually snickered softly at that. "Not like that. I'm tired of piloting EVA, of having the whole world depend on me and watching my friends risk their lives with me."

"Then why don't you stop?" Kaworu asked. "I'm sure they can find a replacement pilot for Unit One, and humanity does have some unexpected champions in addition to the Evangelions."

_Just like they found one for Unit Two,_ Shinji thought darkly before squelching his resentment. It wasn't Kaworu's fault that Asuka was in a near catatonic state, after all.

"I can't just stop," Shinji said. "People could die if I quit and NERV had to put an inexperienced pilot in Unit One. My friends, the new pilot, innocent people in the city…and it would all be my fault."

"You lilin are so interesting," Kaworu commented. "You have such difficulty getting along with others, yet some of you will fight so hard and endure so much pain to protect others."

With a small frown of confusion, Shinji turned toward Kaworu and was surprised to see that the Fifth Child was looking at him.

"I may have been born just to meet you," Kaworu commented.

* * *

"I still don't get why this guy creeps you out so much," Nozomi commented while she walked home from school with Hikari the next day.

Hikari sighed. "It's difficult to put into words," she said. "If you met him, I think you might understand."

Nozomi just shrugged in response, and Hikari sighed softly, wondering why she'd tried to talk to her younger sister about this.

_Actually, I know why,_ Hikari thought. _Asuka's practically in a coma, Rei doesn't want to talk about Kaworu at all, Shinji likes the guy, and Kodama's been studying for exams all the time lately._

"Hey, look!" Nozomi exclaimed suddenly, pointing.

Hikari looked and saw that a previously deserted building had been converted into a costume shop. It wasn't terribly surprising; Tokyo-3 was rapidly becoming the cosplaying capital of Japan, thanks to the number of…colorful figures in the city, including Spirit. Not even the Angel attacks could keep the otaku groups away from the place.

One of the mannequins in the window was dressed as Spirit, in fact, though Hikari noticed with annoyance that the costume would be far too large for her, and in more ways than one. The other one was wearing a white and gold costume just like the one she had worn the very first time she'd gone out as Spirit.

It was funny how the human mind worked sometimes. Memories could be sparked by the smallest or strangest association. A scent, a sound, a familiar sight, any of them could unearth a buried memory. Hikari lay eyes on the mask that the mannequin wore, and her eyes widened.

* * *

_Her alter ego was about two meters away from her, standing knee-deep in the amber liquid and wearing her usual school uniform. A mask was on her face, but it wasn't the red one that Spirit herself wore. It looked like the gold one that she'd pilfered from Kodama and worn during her first outing._

_"Who're you?" Spirit demanded._

_Hikari smiled, and Spirit shivered at the sight. She didn't know she was capable of looking that sinister. "I'm you."_

_"No, you're not!" Spirit snapped. "I'm me!"_

_Hikari apparently found this assertion amusing, as her smile widened. Somehow, it didn't make her look the slightest bit more pleasant, just the opposite, in fact._

_A grainy, fragmented memory suddenly came to her. She remembered that she had been fighting an Angel and had landed on its back for…some reason, just before it had captured and then covered her in some kind of ooze._

_"You're an Angel, aren't you?" Spirit asked._

_Hikari threw back her head and laughed. "Clever lilin! There's no fooling you, is there?" she asked. "Yes, I am one of the beings your kind calls the Angels."_

* * *

_"Don't you see that this is a wretched state of affairs?" the Angel asked. "Your _entire_ species lives in similar misery, but you and I can end all this, half-sister. We can end it right now."_

_"Half-sister?"_

_"Yes," the Angel nodded. "Though you are a daughter of Lilith, you have been blessed with the power of Adam. Together we can end the world of the AT field."_

* * *

"Oh god," Hikari breathed.

"What?" Nozomi asked.

"We need to get home, _now_," Hikari said. "Come on!"

She broke out in a run for the train station, with Nozomi close behind her. "What's wrong?" the youngest Horaki asked.

"Angel," was Hikari's only reply.

Nozomi didn't question her any more after that, and the two girls made it back home in record time. Hikari rushed straight up to her room and began to dial Shinji's cell phone even as she worked on changing out of her school uniform and into her costume, nearly falling to the floor in her haste.

"Hai, moshi moshi," Shinji answered after two rings, flooding her with relief. She wasn't too late!

"Hi, Shinji," Hikari greeted, trying to sound normal. "Hey, do you know where Nagisa is right now?"

_Please don't say NERV,_ Hikari added silently.

"Kaworu? I think he mentioned something about going down to Lake Ashi. Why?" Shinji replied.

"Nothing important," Hikari lied. "He just forgot something at school, and I wanted to return it to him. Well, gotta go. Bye."

She hung up before he could make a reply and tossed her cell phone onto her bed, then quickly finished changing into her costume. Hikari was in such a rush that she almost forgot to undo her pig-tails before she headed toward her window. She poked her head out carefully, searching for anyone who might be looking. Fortunately, her room didn't face the street and was even fairly well concealed by nearby trees, so she only had to check a few places for potential witnesses.

Seeing no one, Hikari took a breath and then whispered, "I have wings."

* * *

Kaworu Nagisa stood at the far shore of Lake Ashi, looking out at the city on the other side of it. Truly, he mused, the lilin culture was fascinating, both beautiful and full of contradictions that the children of Lilith were blind to. He decided he liked it.

He looked up as he sensed the approach of one of his "siblings," and he smiled even as jealousy shot through him. He wondered if the winged girl had any idea how fortunate she was to possess the power of choice.

_If I had that power…_

He cut off that line of thought, knowing it ultimately went nowhere, since he would never have the Fruit of Knowledge.

The winged girl landed nearby a moment later. "Hello, Nagisa," she said, glaring at him with eyes that were now as red as his.

"Hello, Hikari-san," he replied. "Or should I refer to you as Spirit now?"

Her glare intensified by an order of magnitude. "Spirit," she answered. "You're an Angel, aren't you? Not a half Angel or anything, but a real one."

Kaworu looked out at the blue water of Lake Ashi. "Yes," he answered. "I am the last of Adam's children, the final Messenger."

Spirit scowled darkly. "So when were you planning on showing everyone your true colors and trying to get to Adam?" she demanded. "Were you trying to get Toji and Rei to be your friends first, too?"

"No," Kaworu answered. "Shinji-kun is the only lilin that interests me. Do you intend to kill me?"

His inquiry as to whether or not she had murderous intentions toward him was asked in a voice as calm and level as the blue lake before them. For some reason, this infuriated Spirit.

"Yes," she growled.

He chuckled, further irritating her. "Truly? I know you had little difficulty slaughtering my siblings, but they appeared alien to you. I, on the other hand, appear to be a lilin. And the children of Lilith do place so much value upon appearances."

Spirit grimaced at the way he referred to the other Angels as his siblings, thinking of Kodama and Nozomi. She wondered if he felt the kind of connection to his Angels that she felt with her sisters.

_Probably not_, Spirit decided. If someone had killed her sisters she'd be utterly furious as well as distraught, even if it was done out of self defense. But Kaworu spoke of the deaths of the other Angels in a decidedly calm, matter-of-fact tone. It made pressing forward with what she knew she had to do easier, though it did not dispel the sick feeling in the pit of her stomach.

"I don't _want_ to kill you," Spirit said, her voice trembling as she made that admission, "but I will, because I can't let you hurt my friends. Besides, even though you _look_ human, I know you're really an Angel."

Kaworu's grin just widened. "You lilin can be so defensive of one another. I guess it's only natural for such a fragile species to evolve that way."

"Are you going to do a running commentary on humanity all day, or are you going to fight me?" Spirit asked.

She didn't want to admit it to him, but she wasn't sure she could attack him if he didn't fight back. It would make her feel like a murderer, rather than someone who working to destroy an incredibly dangerous monster in human form that would destroy mankind.

"Neither," Kaworu answered. "You are going to leave here."

"Sorry, Nagisa, but that's not going to happen," Spirit said, crossing her arms.

"Oh, but it is," he replied. "Come here."

Spirit suddenly felt her body moving to obey his command, her legs trying to walk closer to him. She cried out in alarm as she fought, trying to regain control of herself and succeeding only in making herself stagger clumsily toward him instead of just striding over.

"What the hell?" she demanded, suddenly feeling cold with fear. "How are you doing this to me?!"

"The gift you received from Bardiel is something of a double-edged sword," Kaworu explained. "It allows me to control you much as he controlled Evangelion Unit Three."

_A double-edged sword? From where I'm standing, it only ever had _one_ edge. Pity it only cuts me!_ Spirit thought as she struggled fruitlessly against the Seventeenth Angel's hold on her.

"There is little need to worry, however," Kaworu continued once she was within arm's length of him. "Besides myself, there is really no one else with the power to take advantage of this weakness. Adam is the only other being on this Earth who could do so, and he would need to be restored to his full glory, first. And if the All-Father is restored, then his ability to control you will be the least of your worries."

"I'm more worried about what _you're_ going to do to me," Spirit growled.

Kaworu didn't immediately make a reply, instead walking around her in a slow circle. Spirit grit her teeth and struggled desperately against his unseen hold on her, but she couldn't move. Her body stood stubbornly at attention; she couldn't even move her hand enough to try and line up a cross blast.

"I don't plan on doing much of anything with you," Kaworu said at last. "I just need you to stay out of my way."

"I won't," Spirit said defiantly.

"I'm afraid you don't have much of a choice," he responded.

Tabris raised his right hand, his index and middle fingers extended, slowly bringing them towards Spirit's head. The winged girl struggled furiously against her invisible bonds, not sure what he was about to do to her but certain she wouldn't like it. However, he commanded the part of the Thirteenth Angel that was inside of her to hold her fast, and she couldn't make any significant movements. Tears of frustration formed in her eyes as he drew closer.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity to Spirit, his fingers touched the skin of forehead…then phased smoothly through it.

Her eyes widened hugely and she released a strangled gasp as her mind went crazy, sounds and images swirling through it far, far too fast for her to comprehend. For several seconds, the winged girl lost all sense of time and even all sense of self, knowing nothing but the flurry of thoughts exploding in her brain.

Then Tabris pulled his fingers out of her mind, and Spirit promptly collapsed to the ground. The Seventeenth Angel then stood there and watched her, waiting for her to awaken.

He didn't have to wait long. Spirit woke only seconds after she'd collapsed, quickly getting to her feet. The half-Angel looked around without seeing him, a confusion expression on her feet. After a few moments, she shrugged and took to the air.

Kaworu watched her fly off, glad that he had been able to spare her. He knew that if he failed to win his object, his "half-sister" would be the final hope for any kind of continued existence for the children of Adam.

With a small sigh, Kaworu began to trek back to the city, knowing that the clock was now ticking. The minds of beings with the Fruit of Knowledge were impossible for even an Angel of his power to befuddle for more than a period, after all.

* * *

"The red/blue pattern was definitely there," Makoto said slowly as he studied his screen. "The MAGI recorded it as having been in the area by Lake Ashi for several minutes, but we don't have any idea why Spirit would be there. We didn't pick up any signs of an Angel."

"Keep an eye on that area, anyway," Misato ordered. "Spirit's almost never made an appearance for no reason."

"Will do, Major," Makoto said. "She's been off our scopes for over an hour now, though. I doubt anything will—"

The bespectacled tech was suddenly cut off when klaxons began blaring all through out the command center.

"You just had to say it and jinx us, didn't you?" Aoba grumbled.

"What's happening?" Misato demanded, ignoring the long haired man.

"AT field detected!" Makoto answered.

"It's coming from inside the EVA cages!" Maya added, looking down at her terminal in alarm. "Units Zero and Three have been damaged! They're both inoperable!"

"The pattern is blue!" Aoba said. "There's an Angel inside NERV!"

"What?!" Misato exclaimed in horror.

* * *

"Well, I can't put this off any longer," Tabris commented as he stood before Unit Two. "Awaken, Adam's dark shadow and servant of the lilin!"

The first production model raised its head, its four eyes burning with a demonic red light.

* * *

"Unit Two's been activated!" Aoba reported, typing at his keyboard at a frantic pace as he worked to figure out exactly what was happening.

"Where's Asuka?" Misato demanded.

"She's still in room 303," Makoto replied. "It's confirmed. There's no entry plug in Unit Two!"

"Damn it. Unit One's status?" Misato asked.

"Undamaged," Maya replied, a note of confusion in her voice. "The Angel never touched it."

Misato's eyes narrowed. The only reason for the Angel to spare Unit One was if it _wanted_ to fight Shinji, and a good commander never gave the enemy the fight they wanted if she could avoid it.

Unfortunately, she couldn't avoid it.

"Get Shinji here and send Unit One in pursuit as soon as possible!" Misato ordered.

* * *

Shinji felt sick as he saw the crimson figure of Unit Two coming into view. He hadn't wanted to believe that it was true, but now as Unit One plunged down the huge shaft after its fellow EVA, it was impossible to deny any longer.

Kaworu was the Seventeenth Angel.

"Kaworu! Why are you doing this!" Shinji exclaimed. "I thought you were my friend!"

Tabris just looked up and smiled cryptically at the purple war machine. Unit One reached out for the Angel, but was quickly intercepted by Unit Two, and the two titans began to grapple, allies turned enemies.

"Sorry, Asuka," Shinji grunted, commanding Unit One's left shoulder pylon to open, revealing its progressive knife.

At the same instant, Unit Two's shoulder pylon opened as well. Moving in near perfect synch, the two Evangelions drew their weapons and attacked, the knives connecting with each other with a ring of metal and a shower of orange sparks.

"Kaworu, I don't understand!" Shinji demanded.

"I am made from the same flesh as EVA," Tabris explained. "The flesh of Adam. That allows me to sync with it easily so long as there's no soul within it stopping me, and the soul within Unit Two has gone to sleep."

"No! I wasn't asking how you're doing this! I want to know _why_!" Shinji barked.

"Why? It is because I am of Adam," Tabris explained, looking surprised by the question. "Those born of Adam must return to Adam."

"Spirit hasn't tried to get to Adam!" Shinji snapped. "She's part Angel, and she's been here a lot longer than you have!"

Tabris laughed. "Ah, her. Well, she possesses gifts I never could. Truly she is blessed."

Unit One's progressive knife slipped off of Unit Two's, suddenly flying toward Tabris. Shinji's eyes widened, thinking it was going to be over right then.

Then the prog knife slammed into a solid wall of orange light. "An AT field?" Shinji gasped.

"Yes, that is what you lilin call this thing," Tabris said. "It is the sacred wall around my soul which no one must ever intrude upon!"

"What?" Shinji asked, confused.

The Seventeenth Angel's cryptic comments made Shinji take his attention of Unit Two for too long, unfortunately, and the red EVA slammed its progressive knife into Unit One's chest. Shinji screamed as he felt the sympathetic pain from EVA and slammed his own knife into Unit Two's neck.

Seconds later, the two Evangelions landed in the lake of LCL that existed in the most forbidden and dangerous part of NERV headquarters, sending up a massive splash. Shinji looked up to see Tabris floating lazily toward a massive door and tried to pursue him, only to be stopped by Unit Two grabbing hold of his EVA's ankle.

He almost expected Spirit to show up at this point to bail him out again, but he knew better than to believe the winged girl would appear within the bowels of NERV.

"I am getting so god damn sick of this crap!" Shinji screamed as he began to wrestle with Unit Two.

With a cry of fury and pain, the Third Child ripped the progressive knife that was inside his own EVA's chest out and plunged it into Unit Two's head. The scarlet EVA collapsed into the lack of amber liquid and was still.

The massive door had opened by this point, and Tabris now hovered in front of a massive, white figure that was crucified upon a huge red cross. Shinji didn't waste time wondering what it was. Instead, he reached out and grabbed the Seventeenth Angel, holding him in Unit One's fist.

"Thank you, Shinji-kun," Tabris spoke. "I'm glad that you've beaten Unit Two."

This statement so surprised Shinji that he nearly released Tabris, all the maniac rage of a moment ago quickly withering away.

"Otherwise, I might have united with her," Tabris continued, gesturing toward the figure on the cross.

"Kaworu…can't you stop this?" Shinji pleaded.

"I cannot," Tabris answered sadly but firmly. "I am destined to live forever, even if humanity is annihilated as a result. I can die, however. Indeed, death would be the only true freedom for me."

"Kaworu, this isn't necessary," Shinji said, though he sounded more like he was begging than making a statement.

"I'm afraid it is," Tabris replied, glancing up at the girl who was glaring down at him and neutralizing his AT field. "Now please, end me."

Shinji stared at Tabris for an incredibly long moment, considering everything that the being he held in Unit One's fist was. He was an Angel, one of the beings that he had sworn to fight, a potential herald of Armageddon. His siblings had almost killed him, Toji, and Rei. His siblings had reduced Asuka to a mere shadow of her former self.

But he was almost Shinji's friend.

Shinji squeezed his eyes shut and tightened Unit One's fist. He tried not to vomit when he heard something fall into the LCL below with a splash.

* * *

"Kaworu-kun was my friend," Shinji said, his eyes liquid. "I didn't want to kill him. I didn't."

"He left you no choice," Rei said softly.

"If you'd let him live, everyone else would have died," Hikari agreed.

Their words didn't seem to have much effect on the boy, who looked inconsolably miserable. Hikari felt her gut twist with shame. She'd remembered her encounter with Kaworu at the lake the moment the Seventeenth Angel had spread his AT field inside NERV headquarters.

_I failed,_ she thought sadly, _and he doesn't even know and I can't even apologize to him for it. I should have called Rei and told her. And I should have remembered what really happened sooner. I knew something wasn't adding up when I thought I'd gone on a flight just for fun and Nozomi asked about an Angel when I got home._

"He was my friend," Shinji said, causing Hikari to cease berating herself for the moment and focus on him again. "I shouldn't have killed him."

"Shinji, you shouldn't have had to kill him, but if you hadn't, everyone else would have died," Hikari said, more firmly this time, hoping to get the message through to him. "Rei, Asuka, Misato, Toji, Kensuke, me…we all would have died if you hadn't killed Kaworu. I know it hurts, but you did the right thing."

"It's true," Shinji conceded, "but…"

Hikari embraced him before Shinji could figure out how to continue, and the Third Child gripped onto her like a drowning man would grip onto a rope. Rei also wrapped her arms around Shinji, and they remained that way for a long time.

* * *

Author's Notes: This chapter was really hard. I admit that, unlike many of the Angels, I didn't really have a plan for what I was going to do about Kaworu when I sat down to write this. I didn't want anybody to have to kill the guy, but _somebody_ had to.

Part of me really wanted to have this epic clash between Spirit and Kaworu, but there were all kinds of problems with that. Apparently only Rei is capable of neutralizing Kaworu's AT field, and then there's the fact that Kaworu's means of attack was to control Unit Two. Since he's already inside NERV when he does this, there's not much Spirit can do at that point. The only way around that would be for me to make up a bunch of new powers for Kaworu to use in combat, and I didn't really want to do that. In the end, it just seemed to make more sense for things to go similarly to how they did in the show.

Anyway, I did try to lessen the blow. Shinji's not as close to Kaworu this time around, and the scene where Kaworu tells him that he loves him has been removed. He also has a shoulder to cry on this time around.

Next we move on to EoE, which I can assure you will deviate from the canon storyline _far_ more than this chapter did.

Zoro50, I could actually see Shinji and Misato reacting that way. Shinji can forgive a hell of a lot when it comes to the people he cares about, and Misato tends to have a very pragmatic attitude where matters of survival are concerned.

NefCanuck, I think I merged too many other omake plot threads into the one last chapter, since you need to read "Aftermath," which was way back in chapter 7 or 8, as well as the omake from the chapter before the last one for it to make sense. Anyway, Shinji hasn't been dressing up as Asuka; the wig is from the Kenshin costume.

Shinteo-5, I can understand preferring a Shinji/Hikari pairing, but Toji's not Spirit's sidekick. He's basically been the dude in distress character for this fic. Hell, if anybody (outside of the omakes) is Spirit's sidekick, it's Shinji. He has more assists than any other pilot.

Invincible Shinji, I don't know what you expect me to do to make the other authors write faster. You can pester them just as well as I can, though I wouldn't recommend it.

Thanks to all my readers and reviewers.

* * *

Omake

You Know You Wanted It

"No," Kaworu answered. "Shinji-kun is the only lilin that interests me. Do you intend to kill me?"

His inquiry as to whether or not she had murderous intentions toward him was asked in a voice as calm and level as the blue lake before them. For some reason, this infuriated Spirit.

"No," Spirit said.

Kaworu's eyes widened in confusion. "Oh," he said. "Well, thank you. In that case…"

"I'm not going to kill you," Spirit broke in, "because I wouldn't enjoy it nearly so much as _she_ would."

"Huh?"

A massive green fist suddenly slammed into Kaworu, sending him flying into the nearby forest. The final Angel collided with a tree and groaned in pain.

"Puny Angel shouldn't have come to Tokyo-3!" She-Hulk roared as she pursued her prey. "Angel should know…that Misato SMASH!"

"Daddy help me!" Kaworu whined just before She-Hulk was on him again.

Spirit stood off by the shore of the lake and watched. Having gone a few rounds with the She-Hulk in the past, she couldn't help but feel a few stabs of sympathy as Misato went to work.

"Ouch," she winced after a particularly hard blow. "That is _not_ supposed to bend that way..."


	21. Chapter 20

Disclaimer: Neon Genesis Evangelion is the creation of Anno and Gainax. I don't own it, make no claims to it, and am making no profit from the fan fiction. No infringement of copyright is intended. In other words, please don't sue.

* * *

Chapter Twenty

It looked a lot like an Evangelion, but it wasn't. Spirit knew it wasn't, and her heart quailed in terror as she gazed up at the great and terrible giant. She had thought herself powerful once, but now she realized she was as a gnat in this being's awesome presence.

The giant was shaped roughly like Unit One, but it seemed to be made almost entirely of golden light. Only its core and eyes were dark. It stood in a sea of red liquid, surrounded by crosses made of light nearly as brilliant as it was. Spirit was hovering well above this crimson ocean and yet she only came up to about its chest.

Adam then turned his dark eyes upon Spirit, invoking a tidal wave of conflicting emotions within her. Her fear intensified, reaching a fever pitch, but at the same time it was joined by a rush of excitement, of longing. And bizarrely, Spirit felt as though she _belonged_ when the giant looked upon her.

_**My child,**_ Adam spoke, his booming voice seeming to reverberate through her entire body, as though she was hearing it with every nerve she possessed rather than just her ears. _**Come to me.**_

"No!" Spirit cried.

_**All of my true children are dead, many by your hand,**_ Adam said, causing Spirit to feel a wave of guilt despite herself. _**You are all that remains. My last offspring. Come to me!**_

"No!" Spirit yelled again. "I am of Lilith! I possess the Fruit of Knowledge and the power to choose! I choose not to return to you, Father!"

She clapped a hand over her mouth when she realized how she had addressed Adam, feeling horrified. Tanaka Horaki was her father, not the First Angel!

_**Come to me! When you unite with me, you shall be as a goddess! The world will be remade in a glorious new genesis and YOU shall have the power to guide its rebirth!**_

"There can be no rebirth without death occurring first!" Spirit yelled. "I won't help you destroy the lilin!"

_**COME TO ME!!**_

The whole world seemed to shake with the All-Father's roar, and Spirit trembled in fear. "Y-Yes, Father," she said meekly.

Tears running down her cheeks, the winged girl obediently flew toward the First Angel, soon hovering right before the core. She reached a badly shaking hand out toward the inky black sphere, and—

* * *

Hikari snapped awake, abruptly sitting bolt upright in her futon. She was panting with fear, and her body was soaked in cold sweat. She was barely able to register these facts before the morning wave of desire to seek the First Angel swept over her, as if her dream hadn't been enough.

_I am of Lilith! I have the power to choose! I choose not to seek Adam!_

The instinct to find and join with Adam mercifully receded, and Hikari took a deep breath, commanding her hammering heart to slow and getting limited results.

The class rep pulled herself out of bed and stumbled to her mirror to look at herself. The first thing she noticed was the tears that ran down her face; she had apparently been crying in real life while she'd cried in the dream.

_And I used to complain about only being able to sleep for four hours every night,_ Hikari thought as she wiped the tears away with her pajama sleeve. _I'd gladly stay up all night now if I could._

"Why haven't they destroyed Adam?" she asked her reflection softly. "Kaworu was the last Angel. They don't need Adam to draw them to NERV any more. And why am I having these dreams?"

The first question was an utter mystery to her, but Hikari found she couldn't pretend to be ignorant about the answer to the second one. Adam had made it clear enough in that dream.

_It's my turn now,_ she thought. _Batter up, Eighteenth Angel._

Hikari scowled at the thought. She could _not _allow herself to be the Eighteenth Angel. She had to fight the call, for her loved ones' sakes if not her own. After all, the people who would be sent to stop her were her friends. The last thing she wanted was to force Shinji to have to kill another friend; he already seemed to be on the verge of a nervous breakdown, despite how she and Rei had comforted him. Then there was Rei. The First Child had risked a great deal on her behalf, Hikari knew, and she didn't want to repay her by storming NERV. And she of course didn't want to force Toji to have to fight her, either.

And that wasn't even considering her family! What would her sisters do without Hikari to take care of them? How could her father, who had never fully recovered from the loss of his wife, deal with the death of a daughter?

_I can't give into Adam's call,_ Hikari thought resolutely. _But…that may mean leaving the city soon and getting _away_ from it, unless NERV gets off its ass and finishes the job of killing the Angels._

Hoping it wouldn't have to come to that, Hikari left her room, finally ready to face the day.

* * *

"So, that's the truth behind Second Impact," Misato muttered to herself as she typed at her small laptop, ignoring the way her breath created small clouds of steam in the cold.

The sub node of the MAGI that she was currently inside of was kept at near freezing temperatures for the sake of the temperature sensitive electronics. At least, that was the story. Misato personally wondered if it wasn't just done to make the place even creepier than it already was. The space she was currently in, which had been built for computer technicians to use when they needed to maintain this part of the supercomputer, was claustrophobically small. The way red text scrolled continuously down the long screens within the sub node and bathed the area with eerie crimson light certainly didn't help the ambiance, either.

"Not that the place needs to be creepy looking," Misato mused aloud. "The information to be had here is bone chilling enough."

The chip Kaji had given her had opened up a wealth of information, far too much for her to sift through in any reasonable amount of time, in fact. She had already discovered what had really happened fifteen years ago at Antarctica, as well as finding some of the details for the plans for a controlled Third Impact, and she had merely scratched the surface.

"You hit the mother lode, Kaji," Misato said. "Pity you didn't live long enough to mine it yourself. I hope you're proud."

She selected another file to hack into, and a progress bar appeared on her laptop's screen as it worked on decrypting the data. It seemed to be taking forever.

Misato's eyelids began to droop without her even realizing it as she waited. She hadn't been sleeping well since Kaji had died, and she had been in the cold sub node for hours now.

She was asleep before the file was fifty percent decrypted.

* * *

"Hello, Asuka," Shinji said softly as he strode into room 303 of the NERV Medical ward.

The Second Child, of course, did not reply. Shinji sighed quietly and sank into an uncomfortable chair that was next to her bed. He'd been coming to visit her a lot since…the last few days. He'd been coming to visit her a lot in the past few days.

Shinji just didn't want to burden Hikari and Rei with his dour mood, not after they'd been so kind to him before. And Asuka didn't seem to mind listening to him.

"Though, if you can hear me, I'm sure you'll kick my ass for making you suffer through my whining when you wake up," Shinji added with a grim chuckle.

Well, if that was the case, it was all right, he decided. He'd gladly take the beating if it came with an Asuka made whole again, one recovered from the horrors inflicted upon her by the Angels.

"The war's apparently over, by the way," Shinji said. "Did I tell you that? Everybody seems to think that Kawo…that the last Angel was, well, the last Angel. Don't know why, but nobody's questioning it. There are even rumors going around about NERV disbanding."

Asuka didn't respond. Shinji blew out a long breath and leaned back on his uncomfortable chair.

"But the weird thing is, nobody seems very happy about it," he said. "You'd think that with the Angels finally defeated, there would be some kind of victory party or something. But no, not only is nobody celebrating, but the whole base is on alert for some reason. I don't get it. Hopefully it's just my father being paranoid for some stupid reason."

Silence reigned for several moments after that, until Shinji grew uncomfortable enough to break it again.

"You know what?" he asked. "Once this crazy alert gets called off, I think a vacation is in order. I know that _I_ really need one, and I think we EVA pilots deserve one. NERV should pay for us to take one. A really good, one, too, not just some three day trip to Okinawa. Like maybe…maybe Europe. Yeah, Europe. You could play tour guide for me and Rei and Toji, take us to some restaurants and prove that Western food is better than Japanese food like you say it is. Heck, maybe we could bring Kensuke and Hikari along, too."

Shinji smiled for the first time in days as he got wrapped up in his pleasant fantasy where the EVA pilots could finally put down the weight of the world and be normal teenagers on holiday. "Yeah, that seems like a good idea," he said. "I think we should ask, no we should _demand_ that NERV make it happen. You and I will just march down to my father's office right now and tell the old bastard that he's sending us to Europe for a couple of weeks. What do you say, Asuka?"

The constant beeping and humming of the machines monitoring Asuka's vitals was all he got as an answer, and Shinji's smile soon faded.

"Yeah, that's what I thought you'd say," he sighed.

* * *

The final meeting of SEELE and the leaders of NERV Central looked surprisingly similar to those that had come before it. The twelve monoliths still appeared from thin air, still surrounded the desk of Gendo Ikari, who looked as calm and collected as always.

Appearances, however, were deceiving. This was when the council would issue its final ultimatum to Commander Ikari: cooperate or die. It wouldn't be said in so many words, the council never spelled things out so simply, but that was to be the message.

"The time is at hand," SEELE-01 spoke. "With the death of the Seventeenth Angel, we can finally proceed with the final phase Human Instrumentality Project. However, with the Lance of Longinus lost to us, we can no longer use Lilith for this purpose. Our only option is to use Lilith's only true offspring, EVA Unit One."

"Unit One possesses no S2 organ," Gendo pointed out. "It is useless for this purpose."

"We possess the technology needed to infuse EVA One with the Fruit of Life," SEELE-03 said. "The project will proceed."

"That was not part of the plan," Gendo said. "Humanity must evolve and shape this new world. _That_ is why we created the EVA series. Not for this."

"We need not cast aside our human forms to use the EVA as our personal ark," SEELE-09 said.

"It's merely part of the process to free us all for rebirth," SEELE-12 added.

"The fate of destruction is also the joy of rebirth!" SEELE-08 exclaimed.

"Through the sacrament of death, god, humanity, and all living things will be reborn and united as one," SEELE-02 proclaimed.

"Death creates nothing," Gendo said flatly.

"Your death, which is _long_ overdue by the way, will create an opportunity," SEELE-01 said.

And with that, the monoliths winked out of sight.

"This is it, Ikari," Fuyutski commented grimly. "SEELE will soon try to reclaim what they feel is rightfully theirs."

"I am ready," Gendo said confidently.

* * *

"Wow, the Blue Crystal!" Misato exclaimed excitedly. "I can't believe that we're actually going to eat here!"

Kaji grinned roguishly. "Well, I know you always wanted to come here, and our six month anniversary _is_ a special occasion," he said. "I must admit it was difficult to get us in, though. It took me a half dozen tries just to get us reservations."

_Translation: you had damn well better put out tonight,_ Misato thought with a smirk. _Well, it's not as if I was planning on keeping my legs closed tonight, anyway. Besides, most guys would probably just roll their eyes at the idea of celebrating a six month anniversary._

Smiling, Misato took Kaji's offered arm and—

* * *

—snapped awake abruptly, very nearly bursting into tears as the harsh reality that Kaji was dead suddenly washed over her all over again.

It was fortunate that she restrained herself, however, because if she'd allowed herself a good cry, she might well have forgotten the details of her dream.

_The Blue Crystal!_ She thought, suddenly realizing that her brain had finally coughed up the information she'd been trying to recall for so long now. _Okay, so it was our sixth month anniversary, and Kaji had to try six times to get a reservation. That has to be the clue, but what significance does the number six have? Kaji, you baka, couldn't you have made this easier?_

Maybe it had something to do with the Sixth Angel? Misato doubted it, since Spirit hadn't participated in that battle. However, she didn't have any better ideas, so she aborted the decryption her laptop was doing and brought up the after action reports from the sea battle, as well as the file on the Angel.

The latter was accompanied by a picture of the Sixth Angel. It had its mouth open and the red core inside its body was clearly visible. Misato was about to minimize the picture and start scrutinizing the documents, when she thought she saw something amiss. Frowning slightly, the Operations Director had the MAGI enhance and zoom in on the core. Her eyes widened when she saw the resulting image.

"It's cracked," she breathed.

Completely forgetting about the numbness in her fingers caused by spending so much time in the cold sub node, Misato began to type furiously, trying to figure out exactly when the picture that showed the Angel's core cracked had been taken.

It was a screen capture from the recording made by Unit Two's sensors, and it was from when the Angel had nearly bitten off EVA's hand. Asuka hadn't attacked the core until later; she hadn't even known where it was at that point.

_So, the core was damaged before Unit Two ever engaged the Angel,_ Misato thought. _But what could have damaged it? The UN fleet didn't have nearly the kind of firepower that would take._

Had Spirit been there? It seemed ludicrous on the face of it, but who _else_ could have done the Angel's core appreciable harm before Unit Two ever touched it?

_But how the hell could Spirit have gotten there so quickly? _Misato wondered._ The battle only lasted a few minutes, and we were in the middle of the ocean. She would have to have been already with the fleet or at least nearby. And the only teenage girl besides Asuka that was within seventy kilometers of the fleet was…_

Hikari.

Misato almost rejected the idea out of hand, not quite able to picture the demure representative of Shinji's class as the bold heroine that had regularly spat in Commander Ikari's eye.

But unless she had totally misinterpreted Kaji's message to her—and she couldn't believe that a red herring could have led her to discover that something was amiss with the battle against the Sixth Angel, that was just too big of a coincidence—Kaji had apparently believed Hikari was Spirit. And while Ryoji Kaji had certainly not been without his failings, he wasn't the type to jump to conclusions based on flimsy evidence.

Banishing the picture of the Sixth Angel's damaged core, Misato called up the survivor list for the ships that had sunken that day. Her eyes widened when she found the _Othello's_, discovering that Hikari had been the only person onboard the freighter when it was attacked who didn't currently reside in a watery grave.

_What are the odds of a normal teenage girl surviving and _all_ the professional sailors drowning?_ She wondered. _Not good. But the odds of a girl with super powers surviving, on the other hand..._

At the time, she hadn't really bothered to question Hikari's good fortunate. Misato had just been too relieved, both at the fact that the girl hadn't died while under her care, and that the not entirely stable Third Child wouldn't have to deal with the pointless death of his best friend.

Now, though, Misato brought up a picture of Spirit that NERV had on file, as well as Hikari's school ID photo, and arranged them side by side on her laptop's screen.

_Change the eyes, turn the hair silver and undo those pig-tails, and Hikari would look similar enough,_ Misato thought. _Still…_

In her school photo, Hikari looked passive, stoic, and perhaps a bit camera shy. It was exactly what Japanese school children were _expected_ to look like, which was no surprise since Hikari was the class representative, after all.

The thing was, Spirit didn't look like that. Her physical features were similar, yes, but in her picture, she was grinning broadly, almost smirking. Her entire demeanor spoke of a level of self-confidence that Misato didn't believe Shinji's teenage friend possessed.

_Could Hikari really be her? I wouldn't think so, but…_

Misato squinted at the two pictures. It looked like even the two girls' freckles were exactly the same, not that she could be certain with the relatively small images.

Her laptop suddenly began beeping, and she realized that the MAGI was rapidly deleting data. Her eyes widened. "They're on to me!" she hissed, jumping to her feet.

When no guards burst into the tiny chamber, however, she narrowed her eyes, realizing that she still hadn't been discovered. "Something else," she muttered. "Must be SEELE finally showing up. Fine. Show time."

* * *

"There," Akagi said with more than a hint of triumph in her voice as she emerged from MAGI Caspar. "Let's see those bastards try and break through _that_."

"Incredible," Maya breathed as she watched the number 666 appear on the main screen. "I never would have believed such a powerful firewall could even exist. You're amazing, sempai."

"If I was really that amazing, I'd be able to deal with everything _else_ SEELE is going to be throwing at us, too, not just the computer attacks," Ritsuko said sourly.

"You've done well, Dr. Akagi," Fuyutski called down from the top level of the command center. "If we hadn't been able to thwart the attack on the MAGI, this would have been over before it even began."

One of the doors to the command center suddenly slid open and Misato strode in. "Status report," she demanded at once.

"Tokyo-2 has launched special order 8-801," Hyuga responded.

"What does that mean?" Misato asked with a frown.

"NERV's legal protection and jurisdiction have been revoked," Hyuga explained. "Command has been transferred to the Japanese government. They only gave us one warning, then they tried to take over the MAGI, but Dr. Akagi stopped them."

"All external access has been cut off for the next 62 hours," Maya added. "The MAGI is impregnable."

"Pity the same can't be said for the rest of headquarters," Misato said. "Evacuate the city. Only shelters within the Geofront itself are to be used, nothing within the roof. Transform the city to combat configuration. And get the pilots inside headquarters as soon as possible."

The bridge techs looked startled that Misato was apparently gearing up for war, but they complied all the same, trusting the Operations Director. "Roger!"

* * *

"Ikari has installed a type 666 firewall on the MAGI's external feed circuits," SEELE-05 reported to the rest of the council. "That's very difficult to breach."

"Apparently we will have to forgo acquisition of the Tokyo-3 MAGI," SEELE-11 concluded.

"I had hoped to settle this peacefully," SEELE-01 said. "But he leaves me no choice. Launch the invasion force immediately."

* * *

The city of Tokyo-3 was truly a wonder of modern technology. Within a period of mere minutes, the bustling metropolis could become a fortress bristling with modern weaponry, with the civilians shipped down to shelters where they would (theoretically) be safe from anything that might wish to harm them.

Tokyo-3 was in that state at the moment. The city was eerily calm with all its people far below ground, the swiveling of the hundreds of weapons turrets the only sound as they searched tirelessly for a target to destroy.

And its mighty guns, missiles, and artillery were all for naught when a bomber flying high above the range of the anti-air weapons dropped a single tactical scale N2 mine from its bomb bay onto the fortress city.

* * *

"Well that was a little much," Fuyutski commented sardonically as he gripped onto the back of Gendo's chair to keep from falling as the command center shook.

"That blast blew a hole right into the roof of the Geofront!" Makoto exclaimed. "We're exposed!"

"And the EMP blast has knocked out the rest of the defense grid," Aoba added grimly. "Intercept capability is at zero."

Misato opened her mouth to say something, but was cut off as reports from base security began to stream in from everywhere, telling of armed invaders pouring into NERV headquarters, as well as VTOLs and other military aircraft that were flying into the Geofront.

"The attack on the west side of the base is just a decoy!" Misato said. "They're after the EVA Units, which means they'll go after the Children. Where are the pilots?"

"Asuka's still in room 303 of the medical ward," Makoto said. "Shinji's there visiting her. Toji's just arrived at the base. Security is escorting him to the cages. Rei's location is…unknown."

"They will kill her," Misato said, even as she turned to glare at Commander Ikari, just knowing he was behind the First Child's absence. "Find her now."

"We still have two Dummy Plugs," Gendo said, not the least bit affected by his subordinate's naked hate. "Activate Unit Zero with one of them, and attempt to activate Unit Two with the other."

"Yes, sir," Makoto said.

"Pity that once the clones are modified for use in the Dummy Plugs, they're worthless for anything else," Fuyutski commented quietly to Gendo.

Gendo just grunted in response.

"Tell Shinji to get to Unit One and standby," Misato commanded. "Get Toji to Unit Three as soon as possible. What's the status of Units Zero and Two?"

"Unit Zero has been successfully activated with the Dummy Plug and is currently in standby mode," Aoba said. "Unit Two is rejecting it, however."

_No great surprise there,_ Misato thought. NERV had aborted the EVA cross compatibility experiments after Unit Zero had gone berserk with Shinji inside, not wanting a repeat of that disaster. As a result, they had never found out if Unit Two was willing to accept a pilot other than the Second Child.

"In that case, get Asuka suited up and inside Unit Two," Misato commanded.

"Major, Asuka's barely conscious," Maya said softly. "There's no way she'll be able to synchronize with Unit Two."

"I know," Misato said grimly. "But if they find her, they're going to kill her. At least this way she'll be safe. Deploy Unit Two into the lake. It's not the best hiding place, but it's better than the cage."

"Understood, ma'am," Maya said, getting to work.

"Should we launch Unit Zero?" Makoto asked.

"Not yet. I don't want to have the EVA's attack piecemeal if I can avoid it. They'll be more effective if they all to strike at the same time," Misato said. "Inform me the moment either Shinji or Toji reaches their EVA."

Getting a chorus of acknowledgements from her subordinates, Misato crossed her arms, knowing there was nothing to do now but hope Ritsuko's auto-pilot system was worth something and wait for her child soldiers to get into place.

_Wait a minute! There is one more thing I can do!_

"I'll be right back," Misato suddenly announced.

The bridge techs frowned in confusion as their commanding officer left the bridge, pulling out her cell phone as she went.

* * *

Like most of the families inside shelter number 12, the three Horaki sisters had been clutching fearfully onto one another ever since the shockwave from the N2 mine explosion had rattled the foundation of their supposed sanctuary. Even through the thick armor of the shelter, the sound of muffled explosions could be heard, and the lights inside the bunker hadn't stopped flickering since the N2 blast.

"I'm scared, nee-chan," Nozomi breathed.

"What's happening?" Kodama asked. "Is it an Angel attack?"

Both of Hikari's sisters looked at her with wide, terrified eyes. Hikari felt an irrational stab of annoyance at the both of them, especially her older sister, for turning to her as they always did. Then again, it wasn't as if they didn't have a good reason to do so, and really, she was just annoyed at her own cluelessness about the situation.

"It's not an Angel," Hikari said softly. "I could sense it if it was. Besides, Nagisa was the last one. He told me so himself."

"Then what's going on?" Nozomi asked.

"I don't know," Hikari confessed.

_Damn, this is just like Jet Alone all over again! We're in the shelters, and I have no idea what's happening or what I should do,_ Hikari thought. _At least Jet Alone was by Old Tokyo rather than right here. Should I go out even though I'm not sure what's going on?_

Her cell phone rang abruptly, startling all three of them. Hikari answered it, surprised that she was able to get a signal underground. "Moshi moshi."

"Hikari-chan, it's Misato," replied the voice on the other end.

Hikari's eyes widened, wondering what Misato was doing calling her when something serious was clearly going on. "Uh, hello, Misato."

"The city is under attack by the JSSDF," Misato said, causing Hikari to gape in shock. "They're working under the authority of the group which used to control NERV, I'm certain of it. Hikari-chan, I believe that someone is going to try and start a Third Impact today."

Hikari felt her mouth suddenly go dry, horror and realization sweeping over her. _So that's why they didn't kill Adam! They planned to use him to start a Third Impact! They must want the power Adam keeps promising me in my dreams!_

"W-Why are you telling me this?" she managed to stammer.

"I just wanted you to know, in case you knew someone who could fly over here and help," Misato said. "Well, I have to get back to work now. Ja ne."

She hung up after that, and Hikari stared dumbly at her cell phone. _She knows. How does she know?_

"Hikari-chan?" Kodama asked. "What was that about?"

Hikari didn't answer, instead standing and grabbing the bag that contained her costume, feeling very glad that she'd thought to bring it in the chaos of the rapid evacuation to the Geofront shelter.

"I have to go," she said. "And…I want you two to know that I love you both."

Her sisters' eyes widened, and for a moment, Kodama's obvious fear made her look as young as Nozomi. Hikari was talking like someone who wasn't sure that she was going to come back, and she had never spoken like that before. It frightened them.

"Hikari-chan, what are you going to do?" Kodama asked.

Hikari forced herself to smile, trying to channel some of her alter ego's boundless confidence in an attempt to put her sisters' minds at ease. "Oh, just what I've been doing for months now," she replied. "I'm going to save the world."

And with that, she turned and headed toward the bathrooms to change, carefully picking her way through the thick crowd of people in the shelter. Kodama and Nozomi watched her until she disappeared from their view.

Mere seconds after Hikari had vanished into the hallway that led to the shelter's restrooms, another girl came up to them.

"Hey, guys," Mari Suzuhara said in a small voice. "My entire family's at NERV right now. Would it be okay if I sat with you?"

"Of course, Mari-chan," Nozomi answered, patting the space Hikari had vacated.

Mari sat down and pulled her knees up to her chest. "Where's Hikari?" she asked.

"She's…helping some friends," Kodama answered.

Mari seemed to accept this and didn't ask anything further about Hikari's whereabouts, much to the relief of the two Horaki girls. "I'm afraid for my father and my grandfather," she said instead. "But I'm especially worried about my brother, since he's actually going to be fighting."

_We know how you feel,_ Kodama and Nozomi thought simultaneously.

* * *

Toji's heart hammered as he ran through the halls of Central Dogma, surrounded by a half dozen NERV security guards, all of whom were packing submachine guns and looking very on edge.

_God, Kensuke would either be loving this or wetting himself,_ Toji thought suddenly.

The Fourth Child wasn't doing either of these things, though he frankly admitted to himself that he wasn't that far away from the latter activity. He and his protectors had already had to take several detours to avoid running into any of the battles that were currently raging in the halls, and the sound of gunfire and human screams seemed to be coming from every direction.

He knew he'd probably be inside the relative safety of Unit Three already if he hadn't taken the time to make sure Mari made it to a shelter, but just telling her where to go and then abandoning her simply hadn't been an option.

He hoped he wouldn't die because he had tried to be a good brother.

"Shit!" one of his bodyguards suddenly screamed, causing Toji to snap back to the present and look up.

A group of men in black clothing, body armor, and helmets had appeared in the hallway before them. Every last one of them had a rifle that made the ones the NERV security personnel were carrying look puny in comparison.

"It's one of the brats!" one of the black suited men shouted. "Open fire!"

Three of the NERV guards took a knee and returned fire, moving almost mechanically. The other three sprinted back the way they'd come, dragging a stunned Toji with them until they'd rounded a corner and gotten out of the immediate line of fire.

"Damn it!" one of his remaining guards hissed, even as they took up positions to ambush the JSSDF soldiers when they rounded the corner. "There's more hostiles back the way we came, too. We're boxed in."

Another one sighed grimly and turned to Toji. "We'll try and hold 'em off for as long as we can," he said. "You try and get the hell out of here, kid."

"But where should I go?" Toji asked desperately. "He just said we're surrounded."

The NERV guard pointed with the muzzle of his rifle at a large air vent. "Ventilation ducts," he answered. "The other pilots managed to get around through them easily enough during the blackout. You should be able to do the same. Hell, it's probably the safest route at this point. They might not have a clue where you are, so long as you keep quiet."

Toji nodded and began to work at removing the grate in front of the air duct. _This is like something out of a crappy spy movie,_ he thought numbly.

"Hurry up, kid!" one of the guards hissed. "I think they're comin'!"

Toji finally got the damn thing off and crawled inside the duct. He covered it up again with the grate once he was inside. "Arigato," he said solemnly to the security guards.

"Shh!" one of them hissed. "Get moving!"

Toji did as he was told, crawling away while making as little noise as possible. Still, he didn't get nearly far enough away as to not hear the gun shots that he knew had killed the last of his defenders.

* * *

"Major Katsuragi! The team escorting the Fourth Child to the EVA cages has been intercepted!" Makoto reported.

Misato blanched. "What happened to Toji?"

"He managed to escape into the ventilation ducts," Makoto answered. "But we've lost all contact with him. We have no way of knowing when or if he'll reach Unit Three."

"The JSSDF's VTOL attack craft and heavy tanks are closing in on the base, Major!" Aoba added.

"Decks 81 through 120 have been taken over!" Maya reported. "Security forces aren't even slowing the invaders down!"

_It never rains, it pours,_ Misato thought with a tiny glint of grim humor.

"Order a full retreat," Misato ordered. "Activate the bakelite suppression system from all passages into section 803!"

"Roger! Releasing bakelite!"

Throughout most of the halls of Central Dogma, a blood red liquid began to pour down from well concealed pipes in the ceilings and walls, flooding the passages with a substance that solidified in seconds and was tougher than concrete.

"That ought to buy us some time," Misato observed. "What's Shinji's status? Where's Asuka?"

"Shinji's suited up and almost to Unit One," Makoto said. "He's had to take a lot of twists and turns to avoid the fighting, but he should get to his EVA shortly. They're placing Asuka into Unit Two now. Her EVA was in a much closer cage."

"Launch Unit Zero into the Geofront!" Misato commanded, deciding she couldn't wait to launch all the EVA Units at the same time. "And see if you can activate Unit Three using the Dummy System."

"Roger!"

"Unit Zero's being moved to the fifth catapult," Aoba said.

"Unit Three's rejecting the Dummy Plug!" Maya reported.

"Unit Zero is ready for launch," Makoto added.

"Do it!" Misato ordered.

In all this chaos, no one but Fuyutski realized that Gendo had left the command center a long time ago.

* * *

"Rei," Gendo spoke, as he entered the room in Terminal Dogma where Rei had performed all her regular uploads. "I knew I'd find you here."

This statement wouldn't have come off as smarmy at all, if not for the fact that Rei obviously didn't want to be there. That Captain Chiron of Section Two was there with her and had his gun pressed to her head made this abundantly clear.

"I am not your doll," Rei told Gendo as she gave him a cold glare.

"Yes," Gendo said, "you are."

He grabbed her arm tightly enough to make her wince in pain. "You're dismissed, Captain," Gendo told Chiron.

"Sir," Chiron nodded, striding off.

"Come with me," Gendo said, dragging Rei off, heading for Heaven's Door.

_It would be so easy to end him,_ Rei mused darkly as she was led along. A single pulse of her AT field and she could slice Gendo in half, ending once and for all his plans for Third Impact.

But no, Rei couldn't kill him. Even with her loyalty to him no more, she couldn't bring herself to slay her creator. It didn't matter, anyway. Gendo wouldn't be so foolish as to push Adam into her flesh without feeling sure that she would bequeath the god-like power that would result to him. Gendo probably believed he could convince her to cooperate once he had her before Lilith.

But he would not, Rei swore to herself. No matter what he said and no matter what he threatened, the First Child would not cooperate with Gendo's plans.

* * *

Outside, a massive set of doors opened and an enormous, cyclopean giant in blue armor emerged on the surface, its lone eye burning a malevolent red. Next to the Evangelion prototype, the planes and tanks that were arrayed against NERV looked like mere children's toys.

For a moment, the various war machines that had been advancing toward NERV headquarters seemed to hesitate, as if the sight of the blue giant gave them pause.

Then, they all opened up on Unit Zero.

Missiles, high caliber bullets, rockets, shells, and other munitions went flying out at Unit Zero, and orange fireballs blossomed all over the surface of the EVA. It was an awesome display of mankind's ability to make war, of what human ingenuity could create when turned to the task of killing other humans, and of good old fashioned firepower.

And it was all utterly futile.

If the Dummy System realized that anything was touching Unit Zero, it gave no indication. The first viable Evangelion ever made reached into the air and almost lazily plucked one of the VTOL fighters out of the sky, flinging it toward a line of artillery pieces. The pilot of the unfortunate plane never had a snowball's chance in hell of getting his aircraft back under control, and the explosion that resulted from the VTOL colliding with the artillery pieces stretched right up to what remained of the Geofront's roof.

Unit Zero then let out a loud roar, as though pleased with the mayhem and destruction it was creating. The JSSDF men present, battle hardened soldiers all, shivered when they heard that inhuman roar.

The blue EVA charged, crushing tanks flat beneath its feet as easily as a man might crush empty aluminum cans. It kicked many of the ones that had been fortunate enough to avoid this fate, sending them flying, many spinning crazily as they arced through the air. These were all soundly reduced to scrap when they hit the ground.

It was at this point that the JSSDF fired a trio of ballistic missiles at Unit Zero. All of them slammed into Unit Zero, crumpling slightly with the force of the implact and causing the titan to stagger somewhat. For a moment the JSSDF soldiers present allowed themselves to believe that the EVA might be done for. When the missiles exploded and Unit Zero was obscured by a massive ball of fire, they all held their breath…

And then cursed when the explosion dissipated and Unit Zero was still standing. Without a scratch on it.

It was then that they all remembered a very basic fact: Evangelion was known as mankind's ultimate weapon for a _reason_.

* * *

"That loathsome Evangelion," SEELE-09 growled, venom in his voice.

"Once again our plans will go unrealized," SEELE-01 said. "It seems we'll have to fight fire with fire."

* * *

High above Tokyo-3 circled nine of the largest aircraft that humanity had ever created. Most NERV personnel would have recognized them, since NERV had used planes just like them in the past. And while the planes themselves were not built for combat, their cargo certainly was.

Red Dummy Plugs, all of which had the word "KAWORU" printed on the side in English with large black letters, slid smoothly into the Mass Produced Evangelions, bringing the white EVA Units to life. Once their activation was completed, the EVA carriers released their cargo, flying off.

The EVA Series, each one of them carrying a massive, sword-like melee weapon, spread their massive wings and headed down toward the Geofront.

* * *

"My god," Maya breathed. "It's the EVA Series. It's been completed."

"What?" Misato demanded.

"The Mass Produced EVA Series," Maya said in a soft, terrified voice. "Nine EVA Units, all equipped with S2 engines."

"As if this day couldn't get any worse," Misato growled.

"Major, Unit Two has successfully been launched into the lake," Aoba said, "and Shinji has reached Unit One."

"We're also detecting the red/blue pattern!" Makoto said. "Spirit's approaching our location."

"Finally," Misato said, fervently hoping she wasn't just condemning two kids to death by asking them to fight one more time. "Prepare to launch Unit One and patch me into Shinji."

The "FROM EVA-01" box opened on the main screen, showing a very nervous looking Shinji Ikari.

"Misato!" he exclaimed, relieved to see her alive.

"Shinji-kun, I'm afraid you're going to have to pilot one more time," Misato said apologetically. "They've sent the EVA Series against us. Nine Evangelions that don't require umbilical cables to function for an indefinite period. Unit Zero is already out there, and we're going to try and sortie Unit Three, but we can't promise reinforcements."

Shinji's eyes widened. "I have to fight other Evangelions? Are they…are they piloted by other kids like—"

"No," Misato cut him off. "They're using Dummy Plugs. They have to be. So don't hold anything back, got it?"

He nodded, his face setting into a resolute expression. "I won't," he vowed. "But, Misato, after this…I'm done. I can't be the Third Child anymore after this battle. I _won't._ I hope you don't think poorly of me for it."

"I don't, Shinji-kun, I swear," Misato said.

"EVA Unit One, ready to launch," Aoba announced.

"Then launch EVA!" Misato barked.

With a burst of electromagnetic energy, Shinji and EVA Unit One went rocketing toward battle for the final time. Misato forced herself not to show any emotion as she watched the EVA's progress up the shaft, feeling so proud of Shinji that she almost feared she'd burst.

"Major," Maya spoke, forcing Misato's mind back on the battle. The techie sounded like she was about to be sick.

"Oh, my god," Misato said slowly, as she looked at the main screen.

The EVA Series had swarmed Unit Zero, and without a real pilot at the controls, the prototype had never had a chance. But rather than simply destroy it, the white Evangelions had _eaten_ it. Blood and bits of flesh covered the jaws of the man-made horrors, and Unit Zero had been reduced to a pile of entrails and pieces of scrap metal.

_Will they do that to _Shinji_ if he loses?_ Misato wondered, just as Unit One reached the surface.

The Third Child's eyes widened and he gaped as he took in the sight of Unit Zero's mangled corpse and its nine destroyers.

"Rei," Shinji breathed.

Makoto opened his mouth to tell Shinji that Unit Zero had been controlled by a Dummy Plug, but Misato raised a hand, silencing him.

She didn't like the idea of deceiving Shinji, but if it increased the odds of his surviving this battle, she would do so without hesitation. And she had a strong feeling that it would.

Shinji, Misato knew, had a lot of repressed rage. It wasn't something you could tell by just speaking with him, and he'd done a surprisingly good job of hiding it, but he had it all the same. For someone with his personal history and personality, it was pretty much unavoidable. Misato had been expecting to see it explode at some point from the moment she'd read Shinji's dossier, but it had just never happened.

Until now.

Shinji's eye was twitching, and his face, which normally looked so delicate, almost feminine even, had somehow arranged itself into an utterly maniacal expression.

"You bastards!" Shinji roared. "You murdered my friend! _I'll kill you all!_"

With a wordless scream of rage, Shinji threw Unit One into motion. The violet EVA bent over as it charged the EVA Series, and not all of the white giants were able to get out of its path in time. One of them was gored by Unit One's horn, the spike passing straight through its chest as if the armor it possessed wasn't even there. Unit One came to a stop, then quickly pulled the now limp EVA off its horn, dropping its enemy to the ground where it lay motionless.

"One," Shinji growled.

* * *

Finding some place isolated in the over packed shelter had taken seemingly forever, and by the time Spirit was in the air inside the Geofront, it looked to her as though she'd already missed the preliminary rounds of the battle.

"What the hell are those?" she asked as she saw nine winged giants descend into the Geofront.

She would have thought they were Angels if she hadn't known better, but while she could pick up something from them with her Angel senses, it was very faint and didn't feel nearly as alien as the Angels did.

_Which means they're probably some kind of Evangelion,_ she thought. _But where did they _come_ from?_

The white Evangelions landed, their wings folding into their back in a manner that was disturbingly similar to the way Spirit's vanished when she dismissed them. Then they all turned toward Unit Zero and charged it like a pack of ravenous wolves, tearing into the blue giant with their huge teeth.

"Oh god," Spirit breathed. "Rei!"

Spirit had planned on plunging right into the depths of NERV to destroy Adam herself, even though it meant seeking out what she had come to fear most. Fighting on the surface of the Geofront hadn't been part of the plan.

_But now I have to,_ she thought darkly. _Both to stop these horrible things…and to avenge Rei._

She began to fly straight toward the group of Evangelions, but before she could get close enough to show them the business end of a cross blast, Unit One emerged from beneath the ground. The violet EVA charged and speared one of its white counterparts through the chest with its horn.

_Woah, guess Shinji's a little pissed,_ Spirit thought. _Not that he doesn't have reason to be._

She flew onward, and one of the white EVA's finally turned its cruel, eyeless face toward her. Spirit unleashed a cross blast, which hit it right in the torso. The EVA staggered backwards several steps, a large patch of its armor melted and deformed.

_Not exactly one hit, one kill,_ Spirit thought. _Okay, let's be smart about this._

Using her speed to her advantage as usual, Spirit flew behind her target and deftly blew off the part of armor that covered the entry plug with another cross blast. Deciding that simply removing the pilot from the plug would be just as effective at stopping his EVA as killing him, and truly not wanting to kill anyone, not even someone who could so savagely tear apart Unit Zero, Spirit landed atop the scarlet plug.

_I wonder why it's red?_ She thought before shrugging her curiosity off, and reaching into one of the holes used to eject LCL from, intending to extract the pilot from the plug that same way she'd gotten Toji out of Unit Three.

The metal was helpless against her superhuman strength, and Spirit had soon expanded the hole enough that a person could easily pass through it. She looked down, intending to pull the pilot out and almost vomited at what she saw.

_Nagisa?!_

A boy with the exact same face as the Seventeenth Angel lay naked in the plug, but he was no normal boy; he had been heavily mutilated. The top of his skull had been completely removed, revealing the gray, wrinkled flesh of his brain. Tiny metal studs had been connected to the brain matter, and wires the ran off into the walls of the plug were connected to all the metal studs. His waist was wrapped in an incredible jumble of wire, but no legs stuck out of the nest of plastic and copper strings. Clearly they had been amputated, probably so they wouldn't take up space. Spirit's gaze flickered to his shoulders, and she realized that his arms had been removed as well. He looked up at her with eyes that were heavily glazed, unaware…but also full of agony.

Spirit decided that she had _no_ moral qualms about putting this wretched thing out of its misery, and she fired a cross blast directly into the plug, annihilating the Dummy Plug core. The EVA it had been controlling immediately fell flat on its face and was still.

* * *

Meanwhile, seventy meters under the surface of the lake in the Geofront, Asuka was able to hear the sounds of battle even through so much water. Every one of the crashes and explosions occurring above had reached the Second Child's ears, and even in her not fully conscious state, they had struck fear into her heart.

Despite the fact that she had fallen so far, Asuka Langley Soryu still wanted to survive to see another day.

"I don't want to die," she whispered, curling herself into a fetal position.

_You mustn't die!_

"I don't want to die."

_You must live!_

"I don't want to die."

_You're alive!_

"I don't want to die…"

* * *

A very dim part of Shinji Ikari's mind knew that he'd probably be horrified with himself for this display of wanton violence later, but the greater part of him didn't care. In fact, the greater part of him was enjoying it.

After he and the other pilots had done so much to protect humanity, humanity had built nine Evangelions to send against them. The injustice of it infuriated him beyond all measure, not least of all because one of his fellow pilots had already fallen to them.

Unit One held one of the white EVA Units high above its head and ripped in savagely in half. Blood gushed down onto Shinji's EVA, briefly staining the purple armor crimson. Shinji tossed the two pieces of the corpse aside disdainfully.

This was his third kill. He had destroyed a second white EVA while Spirit had been vaporizing the plug of another. Unfortunately, one of the enemy Evangelions had severed his umbilical while he'd been doing that.

"Four," he grunted, turning to the rest of his foes.

He glanced at the countdown timer on his internal battery. It read 4:25, but Shinji knew it was probably going to be less. He couldn't afford to keep Unit One in minimum gain mode, and the battery would be drained more quickly as a result.

The white EVA's had spread out somewhat since he had first charged them, and for some bizarre reason, the evil things appeared to be avoiding Spirit now. But they were still willing to confront Unit One with the same suicidal bravery they'd been displaying so far against him, which was more than fine with Shinji.

Unit One's left shoulder pylon opened with a thought from its pilot, and the violet colossus grabbed the blade as it charged toward another of its enemies.

The white EVA tried to dodge Unit One as it barreled toward it, but the Dummy System proved far too slow compared the Third Child. Unit One's arm lashed out, the progressive knife flashing in the sunlight, and suddenly the white EVA's head had been separated from its shoulders and was falling to the ground, blood spraying from its severed neck.

"Five," Shinji growled, even as he discarded the knife and picked up the sword the now headless EVA held.

One of the MP EVA's approached him and swung its own sword at him, and Shinji brought up his newly acquired weapon to block the blow. The huge swords were clumsy, graceless weapons, but they were _very_ heavy, and the strike that landed on Shinji's sword had an incredible amount of force behind it as a result. The Third Child could feel the jarring impact through his own arms, but Unit One's hold on its weapon never wavered.

The white EVA had thrown all its weight behind what it had apparently hoped would be a lethal strike, and it was knocked off balance when Unit One successfully blocked. Shinji wasted no time in taking advantage of his enemy's unguarded moment, and with a hoarse scream, brought his own weapon down. The white EVA was cleanly bisected, sliced in two from shoulder to crotch. The two halves of it landed on the ground with enough force to make the earth quake, and they bled all over the brown earth, turning it red.

"Six," Shinji said.

A proximity warning suddenly went off, and Shinji turned to see one of the MP EVA Units flying at him from behind. His eyes widened, knowing he wouldn't be able to react in time.

Two blasts of white light slammed into the leaping Evangelion, both sprouting arms just before they hit their mark. The MP EVA was struck right in the chest and stomach and went soaring backwards, landing on its back and sliding for nearly a half a kilometer, crushing trees beneath its weight like they were matchsticks.

"Arigato!" Shinji called to Spirit over his EVA's external speakers, even as he ran to finish the job.

Raising the sword high above Unit One's head, Shinji brought one of the points down onto the white EVA with a loud scream of rage, plunging the weapon _through_ its chest and deep into the ground beneath it. The white EVA writhed for a few seconds and then was still.

"Seven," Shinji said.

He noticed a flare of light from the corner of his eye and turned, seeing one of the two remaining white EVA's being consumed by a Halo Wave. When the intense flare of white light had faded, it revealed that the unfortunate EVA it had struck had been vaporized from the chest up.

"Eight," Shinji said. "One left."

And he had fifteen seconds of power remaining.

Shinji charged his last enemy standing with a roar, the sound of his blood rushing through his veins almost deafening him as rage and fear caused by how close he'd have to cut it made his heartbeat accelerate and his body pour adrenaline into his system.

The Evangelion test type's empty hand plunged into the white EVA's chest. Shinji could feel the pulsing flesh inside the harpy's chest as though it was his own hand in there, could feel the hot, sticky blood.

And it felt _wonderful._

Grabbing what he hoped was the enemy EVA's heart, Shinji began to squeeze. "_Die_!" he snarled, willing the organ to explode under the pressure he was putting on it.

_Ten seconds, _he thought, his gaze flicking over to the countdown timer. _Nine…eight…seven…six…five…_

One of the massive swords suddenly sailed toward Unit One. Shinji reacted on reflex, holding out his EVA's free hand and summonsing an AT field with a thought. The orange, hexagonal barrier flashed to life, halting the movement of the sword.

And then the weapon changed. Its form suddenly became fluid, shifting into something entirely different. The bulky sword became a great, two-pronged spear.

"The Lance of Longinus," Shinji breathed, his eyes widening.

Time suddenly seemed to slow. Shinji saw the duplicate Lance starting to push through his AT field, the normally invincible barrier barely able to slow it down. He turned and looked up at Spirit, realizing she was too far away to be able to even attempt to knock the Lance off its path with an energy blast. He took a deep breath and turned back to the approaching Lance, knowing that he was staring his death right in the face.

All of this took less than one second according to Unit One's countdown timer.

A massive red hand suddenly gripped the Lance's shaft, arresting its progress and then turning it around and hurling back in the direction it had come from. It flew straight into the MP EVA that had flung it, easily sailing through _its_ AT field and impaling it, pinning it to the ground like some kind of grotesque butterfly.

The "FROM EVA-02" window popped up on Shinji's display.

"That's one less I owe you, Third Child," Asuka said triumphantly.

"Asuka!" Shinji exclaimed joyously.

And then the countdown timer on Unit One's internal battery reached zero. The violet giant slumped, its eyes going dark, and the walls of Shinji's internal plug reverted to their normal, opaque state.

* * *

Gendo swiped his ID card through the reader next to the Heaven's Door, and the display flashed green. The trio of huge bolts that kept to the door closed slid smoothly out of place, and the enormous, armored door began to swing open.

* * *

Spirit gasped as she was assailed by a fresh wave of Adam's overwhelming presence. The winged girl very nearly began to drop out of the air before she was able to get herself back under control, rubbing her temples.

_I am of Lilith. I possess the Fruit of Knowledge and the power to choose. I choose not to seek Adam!_

Except seeking Adam was exactly what she had to do now, she realized. Whoever was trying to start Third Impact was clearly getting closer to accomplishing their goal. She had to find Adam and destroy him before anyone could begin the apocalypse, no matter how much the idea of getting close to the First Angel terrified her.

_But what about Shinji and Asuka?_

All around her, the white Evangelions were getting up, regardless of how grievously damaged they might be, some of them even regenerating lost body parts and armor. Only the one Asuka had impaled with the duplicate Lance and the one whose Dummy Plug that Spirit had totally destroyed remained motionless.

Spirit loathed the idea of leaving her friends to fight the enemy Evangelions without her, especially having seen what they'd done to Unit Zero. However, she knew all too well that if she didn't destroy Adam soon, it probably wouldn't matter if this battle was won or lost.

The image of the crimson ocean of LCL that she had been seeing all too often in her dreams lately suddenly flashed through her mind, and Spirit reached her decision.

"I'm sorry," she said, turning and flying toward the pyramid.

* * *

With a thought, Asuka ejected the umbilical plug from Unit Two's back, starting the countdown timer on her own EVA's internal battery. She deftly grabbed it before it could get near the ground, and then plugged it into Unit One's back. The purple EVA spasmed slightly as the light returned to its eyes and it got up.

A communications window from Unit One popped up on her screen, showing a still shocked looking Shinji. "Asuka, you're awake," he said. "You're alive!"

"How very astute of you to notice, Shinji," she replied with a smirk.

"The EVA Series is reactivating," he noted worriedly.

"Good," Asuka said. "I was afraid that I'd missed all the fun."

Shinji blinked at the neigh demonic grin on Asuka's face and decided then and there that he was _very_ glad this spirit of vengeance was on his side. He then noticed that Spirit was flying away from the battle and frowned. "Where's she going?"

"Who cares?" Asuka asked. "We don't need her. She should just be glad I owe her, too, or I'd take her out after we were done with the EVA Series. Now, Third Child, ready to unleash hell?"

"Yes," Shinji said firmly.

* * *

Spirit raised her AT field as she slammed into a large window on the side of the NERV pyramid, protecting herself from the countless of shards of broken glass that went flying as the window shattered.

"What the heck is this place?" she asked as she looked around.

She had arrived inside a huge but mostly empty room, devoid of all furniture except for a desk and chair at the far end. Strange symbols covered the floor and were reflected on the mirrored ceiling.

Giving a mental shrug, Spirit rushed out the door and into the halls of NERV, knowing only that she had to go downwards. _I really hope this place isn't as confusing as I've heard,_ she thought, recalling one time she'd heard Misato complaining bitterly about the base's labyrinthine layout when she'd been visiting Shinji and Asuka.

The area of the base that contained the commanders' offices was relatively untouched, but once Spirit got away from there, she was soon confronted by the remains of the slaughter that the JSSDF had performed. Dead bodies littered the halls, most of which were partially flooded with some kind of red substance, some of which was still dripping lazily from pipes in the ceilings. The concrete walls bore the marks from the bullets, grenades, and flamethrowers that the JSSDF had employed.

The whole thing horrified Spirit to her very core. She had seen war before, namely the war against that Angels. However, that conflict had essentially been one of man versus beast. The one that had occurred, and, she realized, was doubtlessly still occurring, was one of man versus man, a very different thing.

Forcing herself not to vomit, she sprinted through the eerily quiet halls until she finally found an elevator. Not believing for a second that the thing was still working, she didn't even bother trying the buttons and merely forced the doors open, then jumped down the shaft. It was just large enough for her to use her wings to keep herself from falling uncontrollably, and Spirit soon landed lightly at the bottom.

She muscled open the lowest door…and found herself facing a dozen men she was certain _weren't_ NERV security.

"What the hell is she?!" one of the soldiers asked.

"Who cares? Shoot her!"

Spirit's AT field flashed into vision as a hail of bullets cascaded against it, the deadly slugs utterly useless against the orange barrier of light. The winged girl crossed her arms and waited for the soldiers to realize that they weren't doing anything but wasting ammo.

"Finished?" she asked, once they finally ceased firing.

One of the soldiers answered by lobbing a grenade at her feet.

"Eep!" Spirit squeaked out of reflex, throwing her arms up.

The grenade went off, the sound of the explosion thunderous in the enclosed hallway. However, neither the deadly shrapnel nor the force of the blast ever made it past Spirit's AT field.

"Damn, that was loud," she groaned, rubbing her ears, before she gave the soldiers a deadly glare. "All right, my turn."

Spirit charged forward, and the soldiers reflexively opened fire again, their renewed assault proving just as fruitless as their previous two as their bullets splashed off her AT field like raindrops. She reached the group and punched one of the men in the chest, sending him sprawling into several of his comrades. A high kick knocked another to the floor. She wrenched one of the wicked looking rifles out of another's grasp and used it as a club to hit a third soldier, spending him to the floor with a cry of agony. In seconds, the teenage girl had reduced the squad of battle hardened and heavily armed soldiers to unconscious heaps on the floor.

All except for one. Spirit tore the gun out of the last man's hand, easily bending the rifle until it became U-shaped. Then she grabbed a handful of the man's shirt and lifted him off the ground. She was only able to get his feet a few centimeters above the floor, thanks to the height difference between them, but that didn't seem to lessen the effect. The man was clearly terrified.

"I don't suppose you know how to get to Terminal Dogma from here, do you?" she asked in a soft, dangerous voice, knowing from Rei that this was where all the secret and dangerous things NERV possessed were kept.

The soldier shook his head. "No, I don't. I swear!"

"Pity," Spirit grumbled.

She then flung the man into the wall with enough force to dent it. Satisfied that she'd taken care of the soldiers, the winged girl continued her trek through NERV. Normally she would have been more careful about not hurting the men too much, but having seen their handiwork, Spirit had decided that she wasn't going to worry herself about that much.

Spirit rounded a corner and found a new elevator. Wondering how deep NERV headquarters went, she forced this one open and headed to the bottom again.

Small but frantic battles were still happening in scattered pockets on this level, and more than once Spirit had to deal with JSSDF soldiers attacking her. The winged girl simply ignored most of them, allowing their attacks to bounce harmlessly off her AT field. They seemed to realize eventually that pissing her off might be a bad idea and reluctantly disengaged after she told them she didn't have time to play with them in the most threatening tone she could muster. She was all too aware of the fact that the unmaking of the world could begin at any second.

Unfortunately, she was finding herself getting turned around as she ran through the halls. She was becoming tempted to just fire a cross blast straight down, and then use the resulting tunnel to get down toward where NERV was keeping Adam. But she feared she might cause the building to collapse if she did that.

A familiar voice suddenly broke her out of her frantic thoughts.

"Please don't do this," whimpered a man, who sounded like he was around a nearby corner.

Spirit's eyes widened and she came to a dead stop. _It can't be._

"Please," the voice said again. "I have three daughters and no wife. I don't want my girls to become orphans."

_It is!_

She _sprinted_ around the corner, seeing two JSSDF soldiers pointing their guns at the area under a staircase, which was obviously where their intended victim was. One of the soldiers smirked.

"Sorry, pal, but we got permission to ice noncombatants," he said. "Gotta use it or lose it."

Spirit's AT field expanded outward with _incredible_ force, slamming into the two soldiers like a battering ram of orange light and sending them flying off their feet a half instant before they pulled the triggers of their guns. The shots went completely wild, blasting holes into the walls but never coming close to the space under the stairway. The soldiers landed on their backs on the floor several meters from where they'd stood a second ago, and Spirit was on them before they could even think about getting up, raining blows that had her superhuman strength behind them down upon the two men.

She nearly killed them, nearly ended their lives for what they had almost done. It was only because she heard the man she'd saved release a gasp that she was able to pull herself out of her maniac fury in time to spare them. Even so, neither of the two men would be moving under their own power any time soon.

"Are you okay?" she asked, turning to the technician she'd rescued.

"I am, because of you," Tanaka Horaki answered. "My daughters still have a father because of you. Domo arigato, Spirit-sama."

Spirit blinked, then nearly laughed, feeling almost giddy now that the danger had passed. She remembered thinking a long time ago that even her father might not recognize her in her costume, but she hadn't really believed it. "You're welcome, um, sir," she replied.

It felt extremely strange to call him anything but "Dad."

She suddenly heard footsteps and turned, balling her hands into fists as she prepared to take out more JSSDF soldiers. However, the man who rounded the corner was wearing the tan uniform and red barrette of the NERV security forces. Spirit's eyes widened when she took a look at his face.

"No way," she said. "I know you! You're the guy I saved from the Twelfth Angel!"

"After I tried to kill you," the man added with a small smile, before his face became serious. "I never did get the opportunity to thank you for that."

"You can thank me by making sure this man's daughters don't become orphans today," Spirit replied, gesturing toward her father. "And by telling me how to get to Terminal Dogma."

The NERV soldier frowned slightly at her second request, but honored it after only a brief hesitation. "Go down that hallway and take a left," he said, pointing, "then go straight until you find another elevator. You'll need to force the door, but it'll take you to where you want to go."

"Arigato!" Spirit said, and began to run toward her destination, silently praying that no other JSSDF soldiers would find her father.

* * *

The chamber that NERV kept Lilith in made Commander Ikari's office look like a very cramped closet in comparison, and Gendo had taken his sweet time in crossing the long bridge that led to the island in the lake of LCL that Lilith's crucifix sat on. Rei suspected he might actually be savoring the moment.

_Has he lost touch with reality? He's acting as if everything's going according to his scenario,_ Rei thought as she was pulled along.

Gendo was apparently still in touch with reality enough to realize that he and Rei weren't alone as they reached Lilith's island. "Dr. Akagi," he said.

The faux blonde stood and pointed a pistol at him with a shaking hand. "Hello, Gendo," she said. "I knew you'd come. Looks like you had to stoop to dragging your former puppet here. How amusing."

He opened his mouth to make a reply, and Rei decided to take her chance while his attention wasn't on her. The First Child drove her elbow into Gendo's side with as much force as she could muster, evicting a grunt of pain from him and causing his grip on her to slacken. The First Child immediately pulled her arm free and then rushed out of his reach, jogging over to Akagi's side.

The blond scientist snorted at the irony of Rei joining with her, of all people, to oppose Gendo. "I guess saving the world makes for strange bedfellows, eh, Rei?" she commented.

"So it would seem, doctor," Rei replied.

Akagi turned her attention back to Gendo. "Give it up, you bastard," she commanded. "Your scenario's been falling apart for months, and now even the lynchpin of the entire thing has rejected you. It's over."

Gendo didn't look the least bit phased. "You are forgetting that the first rule of every good schemer is to always have a backup plan," he sneered at them.

The NERV Commander then held out a single, gloved hand and snapped his fingers. The sound echoed eerily through the gigantic chamber.

Ritsuko and Rei both began to look about almost frantically, searching for whatever Gendo had summonsed. Ritsuko was the first one to see what was descending from the shadows of the chamber, and her eyes widened.

"No," she gasped. "It's impossible…"

The Rei clone landed lightly in front of Gendo and spread her white wings, as if shielding him from Rei and Akagi with them.

* * *

Author's Notes: Whew, that one was very big chapter, but seeing as how EoE part one is about twice as long as an episode of NGE, I guess it was to expected. I've known what was going to happen in the EoE part of this fic for a long time now, so it was great to finally reach this point and fun to write.

Now, I'm sure a few of you are echoing Ritsuko's comment on the Rei clone. Rest assured, that will be explained next chapter when Gendo does the Evil Villain Monologue™. Is launching into a monologue OOC for Gendo? Probably, but I am trying to be at least somewhat comic bookish here, and so the Evil Villain Monologue™ is practically a requirement. Besides, his frustration has knocked a few of his screws slightly loose, and how else will we know how the Bastard King pulled this one off?

Next chapter will feature Spirit versus the winged Rei III, and the NERV EVA's versus the Mass Produced EVA Series. You won't want to miss this one, folks.

As always, thanks to my readers and reviewers.

* * *

Omakes

Alternate Plans

Akagi turned her attention back to Gendo. "Give it up, you bastard," she commanded. "Your scenario's been falling apart for months now, and now even the lynchpin of the entire thing has rejected you. It's over."

Gendo didn't look the least bit phased. "You are forgetting that the first rule of every good schemer is to always have a backup plan," he sneered at them.

The NERV Commander then held out a single, gloved hand and snapped his fingers.

"RISE BASTARD GUNDAM!" Gendo roared.

A huge, black robot that vaguely resembled a samurai suddenly emerged from the lake of LCL, the amber liquid cascading off of it as it rose up into the air. A small, blue hovercraft appeared, seemingly from nowhere, and Gendo quickly got into it. The hovercraft then flew up to Bastard Gundam, inserting itself into the robot's back.

Bastard Gundam's eyes, which happened to be the exact same shade of orange as Gendo's glasses, flashed as the machine fully came to life.

"With this invincible super robot, I will _force_ you to complete the scenario, Rei!" Gendo's voice boomed out of the Gundam's speakers.

Ritsuko and Rei just sweat dropped in response.

"It would seem that Commander Ikari has been getting into Lieutenant Makoto's _Mobile Fighter G-Gundam_ manga," Rei commented.

"…yes," Ritsuko agreed, too shocked to say much else.

"Gendo Ikari!"

They all turned to see Spirit hovering near the doorway, looking ready to rumble.

"Ah! It's you!" Gendo said. "I shall enjoy crushing you before I complete my scenario!"

"I wouldn't count on it!" Spirit shouted, bringing her hands together, white light forming between them. "The School of the Superwomen of Eva! The ultimate technique! Seki Ha—Halo Wave—Ten Kyo Ken!"

Ritsuko and Rei sweat dropped again, much more prominently this time, even as an epic battle began to unfold around them.

"I do not know where Spirit managed to come across _G-Gundam_ manga, however," Rei said. "Classmate Aida, perhaps?"

* * *

Not Until "Heroes United!"

The NERV Commander then held out a single, gloved hand and snapped his fingers. The sound echoed eerily through the gigantic chamber.

Ritsuko and Rei both began to look about almost frantically, searching for whatever Gendo had summonsed. Ritsuko was the first one to see what was descending from the shadows of the chamber, and her eyes widened.

"No," she gasped. "It's impossible…"

The Rei clone landed lightly in front of Gendo and spread her white wings, as if shielding him from Rei and Akagi with them.

"So," Gendo said, "do you still believe that…?"

He trailed off, however, when he realized that Ritsuko and Rei both looked as though they were struggling mightily not to laugh. Both he and Rei III sweat dropped.

"What?!" Gendo demanded. "What's so funny?"

A metallic sheath quickly wrapped itself around Rei's entire body, and a silver surfboard flew down from the ceiling and hovered before her. Rei stepped onto it and her body instantly gained the same silvery sheen.

Meanwhile, insectoid arms burst out of Ritsuko's back, and her hands turned into deadly claws. Her canines lengthened, becoming sharp, deadly fangs.

"No…" Gendo breathed, unable to believe that two of the worst thorns in his side had been right under his nose all this time.

The Silver Surfer and the Spider Woman exchanged a glance, then nodded with an unspoken agreement.

"Superwomen of Eva…" they called in unison, "_ASSEMBLE!_"

Seconds later, the She-Hulk appeared in the doorway and began to run across the bridge to Lilith's island. She was closely followed by Spirit and the Ghost Rider, both of whom were flying behind her. And behind _them_ were Iron Man and Storm.

Maya was also there, too, but since she was invisible at the time, Gendo and Rei III didn't know this.

Looking out at the awesome forces suddenly arrayed against her, Rei III felt her first emotion.

She didn't like it.

"Commander," Rei III said, "I do not believe that I…"

She trailed off as she realized that Gendo was no longer standing right behind her. She looked around, and saw the commander. He had gone behind Lilith's cross and dragged what looked like a very small rocket ship into view. Gendo quickly climbed into it.

"I regret nothing!" Gendo proclaimed just before he shut the hatch on his little escape pod.

The rocket blasted off, flying right through the roof of the chamber and disappearing.

_He abandoned me,_ Rei III thought, experiencing her second emotion.

She didn't like this one, either.

Rei III turned back to look at the crowd of superwomen, noting that more than one was looking positively gleeful at the chance to tear her apart.

"Well…" she said. "Shit."


	22. Chapter 21

Disclaimer: Neon Genesis Evangelion is the creation of Anno and Gainax. I don't own it, make no claims to it, and am making no profit from the fan fiction. No infringement of copyright is intended. In other words, please don't sue.

* * *

Chapter Twenty One

After coming within mere seconds of dying, followed by the discovery that Asuka was alive and well, Shinji had lost his hold on the uncontrollable rage that had possessed him when he'd seen that Unit Zero had been mangled and mutilated at the hands of the MP EVA Series.

He didn't understand why this was so; Asuka being all right again did nothing to change the fact that Rei must have died one of the most gruesome deaths possible, but that perfect fury that had allowed him to destroy seven of the nine white Evangelions in under five minutes had deserted him.

Fortunately, Asuka seemed more than able to compensate for this.

With a loud battle cry from Asuka, Unit Two charged one of the white Evangelions, putting its hands into the MP EVA's cruel mouth. If the Dummy Plug controlling the EVA ever thought to bite down on its enemy's hands, it didn't react quickly enough. Asuka pushed off the harpy, almost like she playing leap frog with it…and the incredible pressure from having the multi-ton war machine use it as a spring board caused the MP Unit's head to explode in a shower of gore.

"I understand now, Mama!" the German pilot screamed as she headed toward her next target. "The meaning of the AT field!"

Deciding not to ask, Shinji grabbed one of the massive swords that the MP EVA's had brought with them and headed to the Evangelion that Asuka had just felled. He plunged it into the decapitated EVA's back, right where the Dummy Plug was located, and was rewarded with a burst of amber LCL. Counting the EVA that Spirit had destroyed and the one Asuka had speared with that Lance, this made…

"Three," Shinji said as he turned to help Asuka.

* * *

For a few stunned seconds, Rei and Akagi just stared in complete shock at the winged Rei Ayanami III. With the exception of the wings, she looked just like Rei in every regard. She was even wearing a sleeveless plug suit that was identical to Rei's, except for the fact that there was a Roman numeral three where there should have been a double zero. And it apparently had slits in the back for her wings.

The altered clone merely looked blankly at them, obviously not a bit nonplussed by their shocked scrutiny. Gendo allowed himself a triumphant smirk.

"This is what you've been doing in the labs down here in Terminal Dogma," Ritsuko spoke, finally finding her voice. "You resurrected the Nephilim Creation Project using the blood sample Section Two got from Spirit when you tried to capture her, didn't you?"

"Correct," Gendo said, seeming pleased that Akagi was asking. "Isolating the genotype that gives the girl the ability to absorb and assimilate Angelic DNA into her own genetic code proved extremely time consuming, even with the help of the MAGI. However, once that task was accomplished, splicing it into the prototype and infusing her with the appropriate DNA proved a relatively simple task. It was far easier than the process used in the original Nephilim Creation Project."

He looked at Rei, as if expected her to be ashamed at how much more difficult her genesis had been compared to the creation of Rei III. The true Rei just glared coldly at him.

"Had you not destroyed all the clones which weren't in my lab at the time," Gendo continued, "I would have had an entire army of them, which would have made turning back the invasion child's play. However, such an army proved ultimately unnecessary. Men who wish to rule the world need armies. I seek to remake the world."

"This still shouldn't be possible," Akagi said, narrowing her eyes. "The Chamber of Gauf was empty; only one Rei Ayanami can be active at any one time, or at least, that's the way it's supposed to be. Where did you get a soul to animate this girl with?"

Gendo turned to her and smirked, the dim light in the chamber reflecting off his glasses and turning his eyes into cold, inhuman disks. "Dr. Akagi, do you recall how, a few months ago, you came to me and informed me that you were late?"

Ritsuko frowned…and then her eyes widened in horrified realization. "No," she gasped, the blood draining from her face as she pressed her free hand over her stomach. "You wouldn't…even you wouldn't…"

"It was a simple matter, really," Gendo said, as though he was discussing something as mundane as a high school chemistry experiment. "I merely had to wait until you were far enough along for it to be useful to me, secretly sedate you during one of our rendezvous, and then have the procedure performed. The salvaging of the soul was then executed without complication."

"I thought I just had a miscarriage," Ritsuko said softly, still reeling from the shock. "You bastard. You evil, monstrous bastard. You had no right to do such a thing."

"Please, Dr. Akagi, spare me the theatrics," Gendo said. "I know you never wanted children. I merely made the same choice you would have. "

"It wasn't your choice to make! It was mine!" Ritsuko screamed. "And I sure as _hell_ never would have given my child's soul to Rei!"

The scientist raised her pistol, gripping it with both hands, and pulled the trigger again and again until the weapon clicked empty, the sound of the gunshots echoing in the vast chamber. All the bullets bounced harmlessly off of Rei III's AT field, and Ritsuko threw the gun at Gendo with a cry, which was also deflected by the barrier of orange light.

"My god," Ritsuko said, sinking down to her knees and sobbing as just how terribly she'd been violated began to truly sink in. "It was yours, too, you know! And here I thought you didn't care about _Shinji_!"

"Your scenario is still doomed," Rei told Gendo. "You require the container of Lilith's soul to complete it. She doesn't have Lilith's soul. I do."

"Which is precisely why she's going to take it from you," Gendo sneered.

"That is not—"

"Yes, it is," Gendo cut her off. "The soul that Rei III possesses is immature; it will be swept aside when she destroys you, and Lilith's soul flows into her."

"Commander," Rei III said, speaking for the first time.

"What is it?" Gendo asked.

"She is coming," Rei III said. "The one who is like me. I can sense her approaching."

"Good," Gendo said, a small, malicious grin forming on his face. "After everything she's done, I don't want her to be reborn after Third Impact. She must die before Instrumentality commences. Rei, you will destroy her when she arrives here."

"Yes, Commander," Rei III said.

"You are so confident that she can defeat Spirit?" Rei asked.

"Yes," Gendo answered firmly.

* * *

"Damn it, Maya, if you're not going to fight, at least give us updates on the battle outside!" Misato barked as she ducked beneath a row of computer consoles to reload her pistol.

The invaders had made it to the command center in the middle of Shinji's battle against the EVA Series, forcing the technicians as well as the security officers and the Operations Director to take up arms against them. Only Maya, who abhorred violence, had refused to accept a weapon and join the fight. She was currently disconnecting wires from beneath her terminal and connecting them to a laptop.

"It's been more than five minutes since Unit One's umbilical cable was cut," Aoba said grimly. "By now…"

"Shut up, Shigeru!" Misato snapped, emerging from cover enough to end the lives of three JSSDF soldiers with three shots.

"Sorry, ma'am," Aoba replied absently as he sprayed lead in the vicinity of the doorway to the command center.

"I got it!" Maya said as she finally got the connection between her laptop and the MAGI working. She then frowned in confusion as she looked at the data scrolling across her screen. "What the…?"

"Talk to me, Ibuki!" Misato demanded.

"Unit One's back on external power!" Maya exclaimed. "I don't know…wait a minute! Unit Two's been activated and is running on its internal battery! Asuka must have given Shinji her power cable!"

"Asuka's okay?" Misato asked, barely daring to believe it.

"Better than okay," Maya confirmed. "She's shattered her previous synchronization record."

Misato grinned. "Then we may still win this thing yet."

* * *

Unit Two sprinted toward one of the MP Evangelions, progressive knife in hand, tearing craters into the ground with its feet that would later became small lakes as it ran. The white beast put its hands up in an instinctive defensive motion, but it was to no avail. Her knife cut through the harpy's forearms like they weren't even there, sending them falling to the ground before it sliced into the white EVA's face, creating a clean vertical slash that severed the beast's head in two.

_Now _this_ is what EVA piloting is all about!_ Asuka thought.

The whole time NERV had been fighting the Angels, Asuka had tried as hard as she could to prove to everyone that she was the best, only to come up short over and over again. Her best simply hadn't been _good_ enough, and she had had to suffer through getting shown up by Spirit and even Shinji, her self-confidence ebbing away bit by bit.

Now, though, now she was the Great Asuka Langley Soryu again. Sure of herself again. Invincible again. _Herself_ again.

And it felt _fantastic_ to be back.

Who ever knew that a wanton slaughter could be such a balm for the soul?

"Four," she heard Shinji say, and she flicked her gaze back to see Shinji stabbing the EVA she'd just destroyed, Unit One using one of those giant swords.

With a loud cry, Asuka threw Unit Two into another of her enemies, tackling it into the side of building, pinning it against the tower of now crumbling concrete and twisted metal.

It turned its horrible, eyeless face at her, as if to say, "I'm still alive."

Asuka responded by commanding Unit Two's right shoulder pylon to open, revealing something only the production model Evangelions possessed. Massive metal spikes were ejected from the hidden launcher in Unit Two's shoulder, impaling the white EVA's head and wiping the perceived smirk off its face. Unit Two released it, and the white EVA fell forward onto its face.

The Second Child then spotted her next target and ran toward it, lashing out with her progressive knife and severing its right arm from its body before it could even try to defend itself from her. Unit Two then slashed again, cutting a huge diagonal gash into the harpy's chest, releasing a spray of crimson blood but also snapping the blade of her knife in the process.

"Damn!" she exclaimed, even as the white EVA collapsed limply to the ground.

"Five," Shinji said as he destroyed the Dummy Plug of the EVA that Asuka had shown her spike launcher to.

"Stop counting!" Asuka snapped in annoyance.

"I'm just trying to keep track," Shinji snapped back.

Asuka blinked, actually impressed with the Third Child's display of spine. She wondered how long she'd been out of it and what had happened to Shinji during that time.

She quickly moved to cover this up, however. "Where the hell is Suzuhara?" Asuka demanded.

"I don't know," Shinji replied. "Damn it!"

"What?"

"One of them got my umbilical," Shinji said grimly. "I've got two minutes. I guess I didn't get a full charge, while—ahh!"

Asuka turned to see that one of the MP Evangelions had tackled Unit One from behind. Shinji had gripped the thing's wrists and was trying to throw it off, but it had also straddled his EVA's waist and was refusing to let go.

The Second Child threw Unit Two into motion and was at her comrade's side in an instant, grabbing the white EVA's legs and wrenching them off of Unit One's torso. The thing was now suspended in a horizontal position, held aloft by the two NERV EVA Units, one with a grip on its wrists and the other holding its ankles.

"Shinji! Pull!" Asuka commanded.

The Third Child complied, and Units One and Two pulled. The white EVA roared as its arms and legs were all ripped from their sockets, a rainstorm of blood falling from the fresh wounds before the now helpless MP EVA crashed to the ground.

Unit One quickly picked up the sword it had dropped and stabbed the white EVA's back, destroying the Dummy Plug. To Asuka's relief, Shinji didn't tick it off on his verbal tally.

Satisfied that Shinji was all right now, Asuka sprinted off in search of her next victim. She didn't have much more time before her EVA's internal battery ran out than Shinji did, after all.

* * *

Spirit's heart hammered as she flew through Terminal Dogma, no longer needing to worry about finding her way. The call of Adam was becoming impossibly loud at this range, and for brief, terrifying moments, she forgot that she was seeking the First Angel to _destroy_ it, not to become one with it.

She spied a huge door that lay open and knew that was where Adam was. Pausing a moment to take a deep, steadying breath, Spirit flew into the chamber. What she found there shocked her.

The room was dominated by a massive red cross, upon which a great, white being was crucified. At the foot of this cross, stood four people.

Two of them were Rei.

"What?! Rei? I thought you were dead!" Spirit exclaimed in shock.

She could barely think straight with just resisting Adam's call taking nearly all her concentration, and she didn't immediately notice that one of the Rei's was sporting a pair of wings just like her own.

"Hikari! Look out!" one of the Rei's shouted.

Spirit turned to see that the other Rei was flying toward her like a rocket. The silver haired girl let out a squeak of surprise and was just barely able to dodge the advancing white and blue cannonball.

Having missed her target, Rei III stopped with impressive ease and grace and quickly turned around to face her foe. Spirit blinked, her fogged mind finally registering the presence of this Rei's wings.

"Hikari!" the normal Rei shouted up at Spirit. "She is the key to Third Impact! You must destroy her!"

_What?!_ Spirit thought…just as Rei III managed to grab hold of her ankle and fling her out of the room with strength that at least matched her own, tossing her well out of sight.

Rei III flew after her enemy, bound and determined to destroy her, and the battle left the LCL Production Plant.

"'Hikari?'" Gendo asked, turning to Rei. "You know who she is?"

The corners of Rei's lips quirked upwards, the First Child easily able to see the rage smoldering in Gendo's eyes. "How do you think she evaded the blood test?" she asked. "I warned her of it."

Gendo scowled darkly and fired a single shot at Rei. He was unsurprised when it bounced off her AT field.

Dr. Akagi released a burst of nearly hysterical laughter and Gendo regarded the bottle blonde with a disdainful look before he turned his glare back at Rei. He never noticed it when Ritsuko's hand slowly slipped into one of her lab coat's large pockets and began to carefully manipulate her cellular phone.

* * *

Spirit felt her mind clearing somewhat the instant she was out of the LCL Production Plant and away from the massive Angel imprisoned within it. She snapped her wings open and aborted her crazed arc through the air, hovering above the replica of the Antarctic Sea which existed outside Lilith's chamber.

"We don't have to fight," she said to Rei III, trying to sound as calm as possible.

"The Commander has ordered me to destroy you," Rei III replied flatly. "Therefore, I shall."

"The Commander's just using you! Can't you see that?!" Spirit snapped.

Rei III didn't reply, not verbally anyway. A whip of pink light appeared in her right hand and she lashed out at Spirit. The masked girl's eyes widened and she did the only thing she could do to avoid the attack: she allowed gravity to claim her, plunging straight downwards and escaping the whip.

"What the _hell_?!" Spirit exclaimed, as she began to fly again, rapidly moving to put distance between herself and Rei III. "How did you do that?"

"Unlike you, I have been infused with the DNA of several Angels," Rei III answered calmly, even as she flew off in pursuit of Spirit. "Now hold still."

"Sorry, but I'll have to take a pass. I'm _really_ not into the whole whips and chains thing," Spirit quipped.

"You have no choice," Rei III said. "I will destroy you."

Spirit shivered at the cold, matter-of-fact tone in Rei III's voice. She decided that, much as she loathed the idea of killing a person, let alone one who looked just like her close friend, she had no choice. Not when her foe possessed more abilities than she did and was the key to Third Impact on top of that.

Rei III lashed out with her energy whip again. Spirit dodged, and the whip struck one of the spires of ice that was sticking up out of the lake of amber liquid. The silver haired girl couldn't help but notice how the whip sliced off the top of the spire without even slowing down, sending a substantial part of it falling down into the LCL below.

Spirit winced. _Okay, I need to end this, _now!

The silver haired heroine spun about in midair, allowing her momentum to continue carrying her in the direction that she'd been going. White light formed in her palm, and a cross blast soon shot out toward Rei III.

The clone's AT field, too weakened by its close proximity to Spirit's own field to block the blast, suddenly inverted, transforming from a barrier to an inky black void. The white cross blast flew into it and was immediately swallowed up into the darkness.

"A Dirac Sea…" Spirit whispered to herself in disbelief, suddenly realizing that this was going to be far more difficult than she had hoped.

* * *

The next white Evangelion that Asuka confronted actually met her with one of the huge swords in hand. Asuka sent Unit Two into a roll, deftly evading its initial swing, and grabbed another of the swords that had been laying on the ground as she brought Unit Two back to its feet. She swung her weapon…and to her amazement, the MP EVA actually blocked, catching her off guard and throwing her off balance. Unit Two staggered back a step, and the white EVA lashed out with its foot, kicking the scarlet titan in the abdomen and knocking it over. Asuka gasped as she felt the blow in her own stomach through her link with EVA, and then winced as Unit Two impacted into the ground. She looked up to see the white Evangelion raising its sword above its head, readying a killing blow.

Two blood stained metal spikes suddenly erupted from the harpy's chest. Asuka blinked dumbly for a second before she realized that it had been run through with a Lance of Longinus from behind.

The now dead EVA began to slowly fall forward and Asuka quickly rolled Unit Two out of the way so it wouldn't fall on her. Absently plunging her EVA's hand into the white Unit and crushing the Dummy Plug (just to be on the safe side), she looked up and saw Unit One standing next to the harpy that she had speared with the Lance when she'd first joined the battle. That MP EVA was still mercifully unmoving, despite Shinji's removal of the Lance.

"Damn it, I'll never work off my debt to you if you keep saving my life!" Asuka exclaimed, opening a channel to Unit One.

Shinji thankfully didn't think she was being serious. "If we live through this, I'll be more than willing to call it—"

The picture of the Third Child in the "FROM EVA-01" box on Asuka's display was suddenly replaced by snow before the window winked out all together. The Second Child turned toward Unit One to see that purple colossus was intact but slumping and motionless. Shinji had run out of power.

Asuka's gaze flicked over to her own countdown timer and she saw that she herself had twenty seconds left.

"Plenty of time!" she proclaimed, as Unit Two charged toward the last MP Evangelion still standing. "Plenty of time for one more kill!"

The last harpy tried to block her assault, but it was like a person trying to halt a freight train. She battered its arms aside effortlessly and plunged Unit Two's right hand into its neck. Asuka could _feel_ it as Unit Two wrapped its hand around something hard and cylindrical.

With a savage scream, she pulled with all of her Evangelion's enormous might, and the MP EVA's spinal cord exploded out of its body in a shower of blood, taking with it a huge amount of still quivering muscle tissue, and, more important by far, the Dummy Plug.

Unit Two hurled the spine away, and it landed in the Geofront's lake, taking the Dummy Plug with it. The massive column of bone and flesh created a splash that was at least thirty meters high, easily capsizing the battleship that NERV kept in the lake.

"I did it!" Asuka screamed exultantly as the last few seconds of her battery power ticked down. "I did it! I won!"

That was when she saw movement out of the corner of her eye, her triumph instantly being smothered by a wave icy cold fear which gripped her heart. The MP EVA she had slashed across the chest, the one she'd destroyed right before Shinji had gotten himself into a fix…she'd forgotten to destroy its Dummy Plug. It was reactivating.

"No…" Asuka breathed as her countdown timer hit zero, the walls of her plug becoming opaque.

* * *

Spirit fired another cross blast at Rei III, hoping to catch her before she could defend against it. An ebony abyss opened up and swallowed the energy blast well before it could threaten the third Rei Ayanami.

_Damn!_ Spirit thought. _Guess I only have one choice here. I just hope it doesn't kill me._

Flying with every bit of speed that she could muster, Spirit soared forward, straight toward her enemy. Rei III immediately responded by forming an energy whip and lashing out with it. Spirit twirled in midair, barely able to keep her flight path under control at her speed and just avoiding the strike, losing a few feathers in the process. The whip vanished from Rei III's hand as Spirit drew to within inches of her.

Reacting more quickly than Spirit would have believed possible, Rei III's arms flashed out, grabbing hold of Spirit's wrists. Before she knew it, she was caught in her enemy's grip, letting out a cry of pain as Rei III held one of her arms behind her and forced it into a position that the human shoulder wasn't meant to accommodate.

Spirit reacted on pure reflex, flipping Rei III and throwing the blue haired girl over her head in an extremely clumsy but still effective throw, grunting with the effort and the further pain that was inflicted on her abused arm.

Rei III went tumbling through the air at an impressive speed. With a roar, Spirit hurled another cross blast at her, thinking that there was just no way the blue haired girl could possibly recover in time to create another Dirac Sea.

She was wrong. Rei III managed to get herself under control at the last possible second, again summonsing an inverted AT field to consume the energy blast. The black void vanished after it had done its job, and Rei III raised her hand, purple light forming in her palm.

_Oh shit,_ Spirit thought, just before Rei III unleashed her attack.

A massive beam of blinding violet light shot out from Rei III's palm right at Spirit. The silver haired girl flew straight up as quickly as she could, handily avoiding the beam, but even with the amount of distance she put between herself it, she could still easily feel the intense heat radiating off of it. The beam plowed right through the far wall of the room, not being slowed down in the least by the multiple layers of reinforced steel armor.

Spirit turned to look at the resulting hole, and for a moment thought she could see daylight before a distant portion of the new tunnel collapsed.

_That was _not_ a cross blast!_ Spirit thought, fighting the urge to panic. _Hell, that would even put a Halo Wave to shame!_

Not the least bit shocked by the power she'd just demonstrated, nor annoyed at all at missing her target, Rei III flew towards Spirit, one of her deadly energy whips in hand again. Spirit quickly turned and flew off, deciding that perhaps it would be wise to change their battlefield. She soared through the hole in the wall that Rei III's energy attack had created, feeling a fresh wave of fear as she realized just how large said hole was. Rei III flew after her without hesitation.

They came out in the Evangelion graveyard. Spirit took one look at the chamber and immediately decided it was almost ridiculously creepy. The huge, scattered skeletons, the dim light, and the dusty, armored helms almost looked like something one would find in a Halloween funhouse, only much more unnerving. Spirit even thought she saw a huge spider web clinging to a spinal column the size of a giant redwood.

Not wasting time to admire the décor, Spirit flew down to the floor and grabbed one of the smaller EVA bones, lifting it high over her head. Of course, given the size of an Evangelion, said bone still weighed in excess of several hundred pounds.

"Catch!" Spirit shouted as she flung the bone up at Rei III.

The clone responded by striking with her energy whip, easily slicing the bone into two pieces and diverting its course. However, this also resulted in a great puff of dust as the old, dry bone fell apart. Rei III coughed, momentarily blinded by the cloud.

Which was exactly what Spirit had been hoping for. The silver haired girl quickly flew behind a pile of EVA bones, pressing herself up against a huge vertebrae as she landed as softly as she was able.

If she couldn't beat Rei III in a straight up fight, Spirit was more than willing to lose her in this grotesque dumping ground and then jump her in the dark.

Not hearing anything from her opponent after a few seconds, Spirit slowly climbed up the bone she was using as cover, peaking over it and hoping her silver hair wouldn't give her away in the dim light. She blinked as she looked out, not seeing Rei III anywhere.

It was the shadow that saved her. Spirit saw it fall upon her and looked up immediately, only to be greeted with the sight of Rei III hovering above her with another Evangelion bone in hand.

Spirit fired a cross blast straight up, barely destroying the bone before it bashed her brains out. The masked girl sprinted out of the resulting cloud of bone dust just before Rei III struck the place where she'd been with her energy whip, digging a long, thin trench into the metal floor with it. She took to the air again and began to fly wildly around the chamber.

_Damn! She was able to sense me! How could I be so stupid?!_ Spirit thought, only now realizing that she could feel Rei III's presence with her own Angel senses.

The silver haired girl fired still another cross blast at Rei III, forcing the clone to create another Dirac Sea to swallow the attack. In the fraction of a second that the ebony void obscured her vision, Spirit dove behind one of the orange and white EVA helmets.

_I don't have wings!_ She thought, and the wings retracted smoothly into her back, her eyes and hair returning to their normal brown color.

Hikari gazed up at Rei III, who was looking almost frantically about the chamber, clearly not sure where her target was this time. The clone began to slowly fly about the huge room, searching for Spirit.

_Come on,_ Hikari willed, _just a little closer…a little closer…_

Rei III's slow, methodical circuit of the room finally brought her near enough to Hikari.

_I have wings!_ She thought, instantly transforming and flying at her enemy like she'd been fired out of a cannon.

Rei III had just enough time to sense her enemy and turn toward her before Spirit's shoulder rammed into the clone's torso, forcing a loud "Oof!" from her and sending them both barreling backwards.

The clone let out a cry of pain as her back was slammed into the far wall with enough force to dent it. Spirit didn't allow her to move, keeping her pinned and driving her knee hard into the other winged girl's stomach. Rei III let out a grunt of pain.

Then she spat in Spirit's face.

Spirit shrieked in agony as the extremely powerful acid easily burned through her mask and then dissolved the skin just above her nose, exposing the white bone beneath. The front of the mask was reduced to two separate pieces and fell off her face, but Spirit barely noticed as the acid trickled into her eyes, blinding her and sending incredible agony shooting through her skull.

Rei III easily pushed Spirit off of her and flung the silver haired girl down toward the floor. Spirit was far too preoccupied with the breathtaking pain she was experiencing to halt her fall with her wings. Summonsing her energy whip, Rei III flew down after her prey.

* * *

Asuka's breath came in quick, shallow pants as she waited for the last remaining MP Evangelion to destroy her now lifeless Unit Two. Had she been breathing air at the moment, she would have hyperventilated.

Anyone watching her would have assumed that she was going hysterical with fear.

They would have been partly right. Asuka _was_ becoming hysterical, but there was as much pure rage running through her as terror.

This battle had begun so well for her, yet now it looked like everything was going to fall apart when it came down to the wire, to do or die time.

Was this fight just going to be a microcosm of her entire career as an EVA pilot? A brilliant beginning with an ignoble end? Was she truly going to fail again? This time fatally?

_No! I won't accept it! I am the Great Asuka Langley Soryu and I will _not_ lose my greatest battle! _She thought, deciding that nothing so trivial as a depleted internal battery would stop her from destroying _all_ of her enemies and seizing victory.

"Mama, please don't let me die!" Asuka cried.

The LCL the Second Child was immersed in suddenly changed to a translucent red color, and Asuka screamed as she felt pain erupting all throughout her body, feeling as though every nerve ending she possessed was on fire. The walls of her plug were suddenly a whirl of colors as Unit Two slowly reactivated with nothing more than its pilot's will to prevail and her mother's overwhelming need to protect her only child powering it.

The EVA's quartet of eyes suddenly burned with an unholy white light as it began to move again, and part of the helmet shattered, finally allowing the great war machine's jaw to open and release a roar that shook the Geofront.

Asuka somehow managed to smile in spite of the pain she was in. "Thanks, Mama," she said through gritted teeth as she gripped the controls.

The lone MP EVA facing Unit Two stopped as its formally dormant foe came back to life, actually seeming surprised by this development.

That hesitation would be the last mistake the white EVA would ever make. Unit Two charged forward and then leapt at its enemy, somersaulting in the air and bringing both its massive feet slamming into the harpy's torso with enough force to partially crumple the 12,000 plates of fortified armor that protected it. The white Evangelion staggered backwards several steps, and it looked like it was going to go tumbling, but somehow it managed to keep its feet.

Not deterred in the least, the scarlet titan that was upon it roared and then sank its fangs deep into the harpy's shoulder. The coppery taste of blood suddenly flooded Asuka's mouth, which was quite a trick, considering she was already immersed in something that smelled and tasted of it. The Second Child didn't mind, however. She was much too deeply into her battle rage to be concerned over such a little thing.

The white Evangelion thrashed wildly as Unit Two's immense fangs pierced deep into its flesh, but despite all its strength, it could not dislodge its crimson attacker. EVA Unit Two pulled its head back, a large chunk of the MP Evangelion's shoulder coming with it, blood dripping down the red EVA's teeth.

Unit Two apparently enjoyed the taste of Mass Produced Evangelion flesh. The crimson giant sank its teeth into the harpy's neck. The white EVA actually screeched, desperately trying to bring its own jaws to bear on the attacker but unable to do so at the angle it had. Unit Two pulled its head back again, taking with it a mouthful of armor, muscle, esophagus and blood.

At last, the MP EVA was unable to stand any longer and went crashing onto its back, Unit Two remaining atop it as it fell. The red titan reached its hands into the harpy's chest, the beast's armor slowing it down no more than putty would have, and tore it open, exposing the harpy's alien organ system to the open air.

That organ system included the red sphere nestled in the white EVA's abdomen.

Snarling like a wild animal, Unit Two brought its fists down onto the core again and again, raining blows that could shatter mountains onto it.

Initially, it seemed as if the core would hold fast against this unrelenting assault; the first several blows yielded no noticeable damage. Then, tiny cracks began to form all over the front of the sphere. Tiny cracks which steadily grew larger with each successive strike from Unit Two.

Suddenly, the white EVA lurched, the great engine of death grudgingly reactivating for a second time. It raised its head…

And Unit Two brought its huge fist down upon its core again for the final time. The red sphere shattered like so much glass, shards which weighed dozens of tons flying everywhere with the impact from the red EVA's fist.

The last Mass Produced Evangelion's head fell back to the ground, its gray tongue lolling out almost comically.

* * *

"Holy mother of god," Lieutenant Colonel Iwanaga of the JSSDF breathed.

Out across the Geofront from the small command tent he occupied, EVA Unit Two rose to its feet, having utterly destroyed the last of the Evangelions sent by the other, still loyal NERV branches. The crimson giant rose to its feet, threw its head back, and roared thunderously. Iwanaga could actually feel the vibrations from the inhuman sound in his chest.

Iwanaga was _not_ one of the tough (and some might argue partially crazy) old veterans who had served in the impossibly hellish post-Second Impact wars. Nor was he high enough in rank or close enough to SEELE to know that this operation was ostensibly to prevent the world from ending.

He _was_, however, currently in command of the operation, thanks to the fact that Unit Zero's brief but incredibly brutal rampage had ended the lives of every officer higher in the chain of command than himself.

The colonel looked out at Unit Two, considering whether he really wanted to fight the thing without Evangelions of their own on his side. True, the thing _should_ be deactivating any second now without its power cord, but then again, he knew it _should_ be dormant already.

"To hell with this shit," Iwanaga finally declared, picking up a phone. He got an answer only a moment later. "Yes, this is Colonel Iwanaga. I'm ordering a full retreat."

* * *

"The entire EVA Series has been completely destroyed," SEELE-09 told the rest of the council, naked disbelief in his voice. "The JSSDF taskforce is retreating from NERV and Tokyo-3 as we speak."

"Then, the scenario…" SEELE-03 spoke in a quivering voice, clearly hoping someone would tell him it could be salvaged.

SEELE-01 quickly shattered that hope. "The scenario is ruined."

There was a moment of absolute silence in the virtual room as the members of SEELE struggled to take in the fact that their precious scenario had failed, despite the fact that they, the twelve most powerful men in the world, had carefully nurtured it for fifteen years.

SEELE-08's monolith suddenly vanished.

SEELE-04's monolith followed, then SEELE-11's. In seconds, the entire council had left the meeting chamber, with SEELE-01 the last to go.

Over the years, the members of SEELE had done much in the pursuit of making their plans a reality. They had borrowed enormous sums of money, made vows they couldn't keep, made enemies of people they could only fend off for so long, committed heinous crimes that would eventually be traced back to them…all of it on the assumption that the end of the world as they knew it was neigh.

That it apparently was not introduced several complications for the members of the SEELE, to say the least. And at the moment, it was every man for himself as the SEELE members scrambled to get some money together and flee to a remote corner of the world.

* * *

Misato frowned as the sound of battle in the command center suddenly dwindled and then died. Cautiously peeking out over the console she'd been using for cover, the Operations Director saw none of the JSSDF soldiers anywhere near the doorway to the room.

"What's going on?" she asked.

"The JSSDF seems to be withdrawing on all fronts," Aoba said, having picked up a head set from somewhere and apparently getting a report from NERV security.

"You mean…we won?" Makoto asked, blinking in surprise.

"Looks like it," Aoba confirmed.

The two male techs both suddenly let out a whoop, high fiving one another as the reality of their victory sunk in. Misato smiled, relief flowing through her.

"Major!" Maya suddenly exclaimed, her laptop still in hand.

"What?" Misato asked, suddenly on edge all over again.

"It's Unit Two!" Maya said, clearly alarmed. "It's not shutting down, even though the battle's over and it's already been online for far beyond its operational limits. Asuka's sync ratio is skyrocketing! 150…200…250 and still climbing!"

"What'll happen if it keeps going up?" Misato demanded.

"I don't know!" Maya said helplessly.

"If the pilot's synchronization ratio reaches 400 percent, she will be absorbed into her Evangelion," Fuyutski spoke up.

"How do you know that?" Misato demanded, spinning about to face the Vice Commander.

"It's happened before," Fuyutski answered, looking older and more weary than Misato had ever seen him.

"300!" Maya reported. "350…380 and still rising!"

Everyone on the bridge held their breath, waiting for it to happen.

"370!" Maya exclaimed, sounding joyous. "It's started to drop rapidly! Asuka's sync ratio should fall below the absolute borderline in twenty seconds at this rate."

* * *

Inside her entry plug, Asuka slumped in pure exhaustion as Unit Two slowly deactivated around her. "Thanks, Mama," she whispered. "You did brilliantly. Guess I know where I get it from now, huh?"

The Second Child's eyes then fluttered closed as she passed out, a weary but triumphant smile on her face.

* * *

"It's over," Makoto breathed, all but collapsing into his chair, which only had a few bullet holes in it. "I can't believe it's over."

_It's far from over,_ Misato thought grimly, knowing that the aftermath of this battle would last for months, if not years. Even in the immediate short term, there was still a lot of work to be done. The dead would need to be counted and buried, the living would have to be found and tallied, and the injuried had to be located and tended to. Hell, the Fourth Child was presumably still lost somewhere in the massive ventilation system of the NERV base.

However, even she couldn't begrudge her subordinates a very brief breather, not after the emotional roller coaster of the past hour or so.

Nobody could have been more grateful for this than Maya Ibuki, who had never really seen herself as a soldier, despite her employment at NERV, and felt completely drained after the hell of battle.

_If anything _else_ happens today…_ she thought.

That was when her cell phone went off. The petite young woman quickly took it out of her pocket to see that her sempai had been sending her text messages for a good period of time. She hadn't even realized it in all the chaos.

Wondering what Dr. Akagi felt she needed her so badly for, Maya brought up the first text message she'd been sent…and then paled.

It read, "cmdr ikari tryimg 2 start 3impact."

* * *

Spirit screamed as Rei III's whip struck her, not nearly hard enough to end her, but with more than enough force to leave a long, bloody gash across her torso. The wound almost immediately began to close up, but Spirit thought it was doing so more slowly than the previous injuries her enemy had given her.

The other winged girl had been subjecting her to this torture ever since she had used her acid attack on Spirit. Her face and eyes had healed long ago, but having her sight back did her no good. Every time the silver haired girl tried to rise, she found the whip striking her and knocking her back down.

"Normally, I would not do this," Rei III said in a totally neutral voice. "However, Commander Ikari specifically ordered me to make you suffer before I killed you."

_And you're doing a wonderful job of it!_ Spirit thought. _I guess I shouldn't be surprised. Rei's always been very thorough about cleaning the classroom when it's her turn, after all._

"Commander Ikari's a complete bastard!" Spirit spat. "Can't you see he's just _using_ you?"

Rei III's red eyes widened, and she ceased her assaults with the energy whip. Spirit gulped as the other girl drew near, realizing that she'd pissed her enemy off. Rei III landed next to Spirit, crouching down. She cocked her fist, clearly planning to literally smash Spirit's face in.

Spirit's arm shot out and grabbed Rei III's ankle. Before the blue haired girl could react, Spirit flung Rei III over herself, sending the other winged girl careening through the air.

Leaping back to her feet, Spirit quickly took to the air and hid behind the massive femur of a dead Evangelion, dismissing her wings with a thought. Rei III quickly got herself under control and looked around, her heretofore expressionless face forming a faint scowl.

"You attempted this before," Rei III called out. "It did not work."

Her enemy responded by rocketing out from her hiding place as she transformed back into her Angelic form. Rei III had no time to react before Spirit's fist slammed into her jaw, shattering the bone. The blue haired girl let out a cry of pain from the blow, even as she could feel her broken jaw knitting together again.

Rei III looked about wildly, searching for her foe, but discovered that she had vanished from sight again. She had apparently returned to her human form once more, as well, because the clone couldn't sense her, either.

"This delaying tactic is—"

Rei III was cut off as Spirit's fist connected with her side, right before the silver haired went back into hiding. The clone fell to her knees, feeling certain she had more than one broken rib. Fortunately for her, the injury healed quickly.

"I am far more able to recover from—"

The clone went flying through the air as Spirit's fist found the side of her head now, fracturing her skull. Rei III fell to the floor and her vision swam as the concussion she'd received healed itself, her skull fusing back together.

"You are doing nothing more than delaying the inevitable," Rei III stated, a trace of annoyance in her voice now. "I can recover from these attacks indefinitely."

Hiding behind an EVA skeleton, Hikari narrowed her eyes. _Why isn't she trying to hide from me like I'm hiding from her? Is she too much Angel to do that, or is she just that uncreative?_

She then realized there was a third possibility and grimaced. What if her enemy was being completely honest about her ability to shrug off her attacks? What if she tired herself out before she brought down the Rei clone?

Grimacing, she decided she couldn't just keep up this hit-and-run tactic until one of them just collapsed. She'd have to go for the kill.

_I have wings,_ she thought as she broke from cover, white light forming in her palm.

Firing off a cross blast took only a couple of seconds longer than landing a punch would have, but it was all Rei III needed. The blue haired girl spun around and was _just_ able to summon a Dirac Sea to consume the energy attack before it hit. Then, before the dark void had vanished, an energy whip appeared in her hand and she lashed out, a loud "crack!" echoing through the room.

Spirit released a cry of pain as the whip twisted around one of her legs, feeling like white hot barbed wire was wrapped around it. Before she could react, Rei III pulled hard on the whip, turning her body to keep Spirit from slamming into her as she was pulled toward the ground. The silver haired girl collided with the helmet of a failed EVA prototype, screaming in agony as she felt a number of her bones breaking from the impact.

The whip vanished and Rei III ascended into the air, hovering high above Spirit. "I believe that I have made you suffer enough to satisfy Commander Ikari," she said, as purple light appeared in her outstretched palm.

The silver haired girl's eyes widened, and she tried desperately to move, only to be rewarded with sharp pains from all over her still battered body. She wasn't going to heal quickly enough to evade this attack.

This was not the first time Spirit had stared death in the face. In fact, it wasn't even the first time she'd stared death at the hands of another superwoman in the face. When this had happened in the past, an eerie sense of calm had claimed her, as if the inevitability of death rendered it no longer frightening.

This time, however, Spirit just felt cold inside, knowing that if she died, _everyone_ would soon follow. Dying simply wasn't an option this time, but it looked like it was going to happen anyway.

She struggled mightily to move, redoubling her efforts to get out of the way.

It was to no avail. She could feel her bones and muscles repairing themselves rapidly, but it wouldn't be rapidly enough to save her and the world. She closed her eyes.

Only to reopen them as the far wall of the chamber exploded, chunks of metal and concrete flying everywhere as a dark goliath burst into the Evangelion graveyard, one of the living successors to the mountain of dry bones.

Rei III stared dumbly at this unexpected intrusion for a moment, and that was apparently all it took for Toji to size up the situation. Unit Three made it across the room in two steps, its right hand shooting out and grabbing the third Rei Ayanami.

"Rei! What the hell are you _doing_?" Toji's voice blared out over Unit Three's external speakers.

"That's not really Rei!" Spirit shouted as she managed to slowly drag herself to her feet. "It's a clone or something! Crush her!"

Toji turned to look at Spirit, and blinked in surprise when he saw that her mask was absent. With a thought, he commanded his display to zoom in on the silver haired girl and gasped aloud when he got a better look at her.

"Hikari?" he asked, stunned.

Spirit never got a chance to answer him. Unit Three's right arm abruptly exploded in a shower of blood and gore as Rei III fired her energy attack right into it, blasting another hole into the wall. Toji screamed and Unit Three staggered, both pilot and EVA caught entirely by surprise.

"You bitch!" Spirit shrieked, shooting into the air toward Rei III, despite her body's protests.

Rei III responded by striking with her energy whip. Spirit held her forearm up to block it, and the string of pink light wrapped itself around it. Spirit grimaced as pain exploded in her arm, but she didn't allow it to break her focus. Instead, she grabbed the whip and pulled hard.

Rei III's eyes widened as she was yanked toward Spirit, and the silver haired girl's fist shattered her jaw bone for a second time. The clone finally had the presence of mind to dismiss the whip, allowing it to vanish like some much smoke, but it did her no good at this point. Spirit was already on her.

With a cry of rage, Spirit grabbed hold of one of Rei III's wings and tore the appendage right out, evicting a shout of pain from the clone.

"Take this!" Spirit shouted, flinging Rei III downwards.

The clone's remaining wing flapped about furiously, but it was unable to so much as slow her fall, even as its twin began to grow back. Rei III landed hard on the floor, dazed.

Spirit didn't let up for an instant. She too landed and then fired a cross blast right at her enemy. Rei III lacked the presence of mind to summons a Sea of Dirac at the moment and instead rolled out of the way, just avoiding the energy blast. Jumping to her feet, Rei III summonsed two energy whips this time, one in each hand, and began to attack with them. However, the clone was starting to panic slightly as it began to look like she might fail, and her strikes were powerful but wild, digging many gashes into the floor but failing to touch Spirit as her opponent dodged the attacks.

The silver haired girl's mouth formed a somewhat feral grin as she watched her foe starting to lose her composure, finally feeling like the tide of this battle had turned decisively toward her.

Unfortunately, she failed to take much notice of all the collateral damage Rei III was causing.

The floor collapsed out from under the two girls from the numerous slashes Rei III had made in it, and both girls went screaming as they fell, too surprised to fly. They landed on the floor below before the falling debris, which crashed down on them, breaking bones, tearing gashes in their skin, and pining them to the floor.

Toji, meanwhile, had finally managed to recover from the pain of having one of his EVA's arms blown off by this point, and Unit Three approached the hole, looking down into it at the pile of rubble on the next floor down. He saw a tiny pinprick of purple light as Rei III took advantage of the position she'd landed in.

* * *

"Cut Toji's nerve connections!" Misato barked. "Do it now!"

"Right!" Maya said, her fingers blurring over her keyboard.

The live feed from Unit Three that was on the main screen suddenly filled with blazing purple light before it winked out, being replaced by snow.

"Did we…?" Misato began, afraid to ask.

"We were in time," Makoto said. "Toji's still alive."

"But Unit Three's head was completely blow off. It's completely inoperable," Aoba added grimly. "Everything depends on Spirit now."

Misato scowled, but couldn't honestly disagree with the tech's conclusion. With the exception of an EVA, nothing they had could hope to stand against the winged Rei clone. Unit One was the only Evangelion that was still in fighting shape, but getting a fresh umbilical out to it would take forever with the base still in chaos.

"Keep a close eye on the red/blue patterns," Misato ordered, knowing all they could do now was observe.

* * *

With a groan, Spirit crawled out of the pile of rubble, considering herself fortunate to have had a relatively small amount of the debris land on her. However, that was about the only fortunate thing she could think of in regards to this new twist in her battle against the Rei clone.

Her entire body hurt, and her wounds were now healing at what was, for her, an utterly glacial pace. She turned toward the heap of debris and saw that it was moving as Rei III, who had been more thoroughly buried than she, began to muscle her way out. Spirit raised her hand and summonsed a cross blast, ready to end this battle.

No white light formed by her palm and she cursed softly, unable to believe her misfortune. She staggered to her feet and leaned heavily against the wall, taking a quick look around. The hallway she was in now looked very normal compared to the rest of Terminal Dogma. Only the dim lighting and the lack of signs on the walls to guide personnel made it look any different from a hallway in the base proper.

Not even thinking about making an attempt at flying, Spirit began to stagger down the hallway, soon turning a corner.

_Come on, Spirit, think!_ She urged herself as she forced her body to keep moving. _She's way more powerful than you are, so you have to win by outsmarting her! You need to figure out something before she gets out and follows you!_

But how was she supposed to do that when it was a struggle just to walk?

_"The gift you received from Bardiel is something of a double-edged sword,"_ the words of the final Angel echoed in her mind, seemingly of their own accord.

Spirit frowned. Did she have a power that Rei III didn't, one gained from her close encounter with the Thirteenth Angel? Up until now, she hadn't thought that she'd gained anything besides the heightening of her Angel sense, but thinking about it further, it did seem likely that she'd gotten something else.

_Either that or I'm just grasping at straws,_ Spirit thought ruefully.

Hearing a crash from the direction of her enemy, which she assumed was Rei III now throwing pieces of rubble off of herself, Spirit decided that a long shot was better than nothing and made her way to a small metal door in the wall.

* * *

Rei III was annoyed, very annoyed. Commander Ikari had assured her that she would have little difficulty with defeating her enemy, but the other girl had proved both ingenious and willful in combat.

The blue haired girl didn't personally care about her life much, but she knew that she could not be replaced if she died. If she was defeated, Commander Ikari's scenario would fail, and that was not acceptable.

Spirit had almost defeated her, which made Rei III even more intent on destroying her than she already been.

Rei III turned a corner in the hallway and was greeted with the sight of Spirit laying sprawled out on the floor. The corners of her lips quirked upwards.

An energy whip appeared in her hand, and she lashed Spirit with it. The silver haired girl released a groan of pain that Rei III found very satisfying. Rei III struck her again, advancing another step toward her prey.

Spirit let out small sob. "Please, stop," the girl pleaded.

"Very well," Rei III said, advancing a few more steps, purple light forming in her palm.

_Now!_ Spirit thought.

Bakelite suddenly gushed down from a pipe in the ceiling, cascading over Rei III. The clone let out a short scream as a substance designed to restrain Evangelions was dumped all over her body, covering her completely. Her cry was cut off, however, when the bakelite hardened with its usual speed, encasing her body in an ultra dense shell, sealing her mouth and nose shut in the process.

Whether or not Rei III struggled within the red casing of bakelite, Spirit didn't know. If she did, there was no sign of it.

"Sorry, Rei," Spirit said, as she felt her foe's presence dwindle and then vanish with her Angel senses.

She looked up at the maintenance panel that she had opened and smiled slightly in triumph. Grey goo that was extremely similar in composition to the substance that had made up the Thirteenth Angel had grown all over the wires inside like an out of control fungus. With a thought from Spirit, however, the stuff shriveled up and died.

The remaining winged girl lay on the floor for several minutes as her body slowly healed enough for her to move about with relative ease again.

"I'm going to feel this tomorrow," she groaned as she got up. "Even more than I'm feeling it right now, that is."

With that, she headed back toward the LCL Production Plant.

* * *

"Starting to get nervous?" Akagi taunted Gendo as they waited. "It has been a long time. Perhaps your new puppet is having more trouble than expected."

"She is just taking her time and sufficiently punishing Spirit for her interference, I'm sure," Gendo said, though there was a noticeable waver in his usually steady voice.

"I wouldn't be so confident, if I were you," Akagi continued to needle him. "You might have given Rei III a few upgrades, but Spirit has a lot of experience with real life-or-death battles."

"Irrelevant," Gendo said. "My creation's added abilities make her all but invincible against the likes of Spirit."

"I would not be so sure of that," Rei spoke up with a small smile, pointing.

Gendo gasped as he saw Spirit flying back into the chamber, his eyes wide with disbelief. "No…"

"Hey, I know her!" Ritsuko exclaimed as she looked up at now unmasked Spirit.

Spirit ignored the both of them, however, and flew right up to Lilith. She hovered there for a few seconds, face to face with the white giant, before she finally spoke.

"This is not Adam," she said, her voice sounding distant, almost dreamy.

She suddenly turned to look down at Gendo. Her eyes narrowed, a wild look in the red orbs. "You have Adam," she said. "You have the All-Father."

Spirit flew down and landed in front of Gendo. The Commander of NERV responded by unloading his gun at her, only to have the slugs all bounce harmlessly off her AT field.

"Hikari…" Rei said softly, not at all sure of what her friend's motives were at the moment.

Spirit shoved Gendo hard, sending him sprawling onto the floor on his back. Before he could even try to get up, the winged girl had pinned him to the floor by planting a foot on his chest. She then reached down and pulled the glove off his right hand, exposing the Adam fetus that had been grafted onto his palm. She looked at it greedily, her breath suddenly coming in quick pants.

"Hikari! No!" Rei exclaimed.

Spirit looked up at her, glaring at the First Child with such raw intensity that Rei took a step back. Apparently satisfied that Rei wouldn't be trying to stop her, Spirit turned her gaze back toward Adam.

"I am…of Adam," she wheezed out.

"No! Don't do it!" Akagi cried.

"You're stronger than this, Hikari!" Rei added. "Fight it!"

If Spirit heard either of them, she gave no sign of it.

"But…I am also…of Lilith," Spirit panted. "I have…the power…to _choose_!"

With this declaration, she quickly brought her foot down on Adam with all the force she could muster, reducing the All-Father of the Angels to jelly along with Gendo's hand.

The First Angel unleashed a shriek of impossible intensity as he died, one that was soundless to human ears, but not to Angelic senses.

Spirit and Rei both screamed, their cries of pain mingling with Gendo's. The blue haired girl fell to her knees, but Spirit, already tired and weakened and far more in tune with the Angels than Rei, was effected much more. Her eyes rolled back into her head and she knew nothing but soothing blackness.

* * *

Author's Notes: End of the world: averted!

Back when I was just starting this story, I briefly toyed with the idea of Spirit gaining a new power from every Angel she managed to kill, similar to how the EVA pilots in Children of an Elder God were changed with each Angel they slew. However, I knew Spirit would become far too powerful if I did that. But as you can see I brought back a variant of the idea to create a very powerful super villainess for our super heroine to fight.

When I first came up with the idea for Rei III, I was originally going to have Gendo more or less magic up a way to animate the clone while Rei II was still alive. Probably something related to the Dummy System. Having him do it the way he did here felt like it was more in keeping with the "rules" of souls presented in NGE, and it had the added bonus of making Gendo even more evil than he already was.

I hope nobody minds too much that Shinji had a rather lackluster performance compared to his solo fight against the EVA Series, but I really wanted the second round of that battle to be mostly Asuka's moment for a couple of reasons. First because it was her moment in EoE, albeit one that ended with her getting speared in the eye. Secondly because, as Zoro50 has been pointing out, Asuka is the only character (aside from Gendo) who's actually been having a worse time of it than in canon NGE. I wanted to make it up to her.

Anyway, the epilogue is up next, where we'll see where all the pieces fell in the aftermath of this battle.

Reform Joms, well, if Spirit ever met TA Shinji, she'd first have to thank him for serving as a large part of the inspiration for her. After that, who knows?

Dennisud, no Eve, and no fight between Adam and Lilith as you can see. I considered the latter, but it just felt like it would have been too much.

As always, thanks to all my readers and reviewers.

* * *

Omakes

Mortal Kombat!

Asuka's gaze flicked over to her own countdown timer and she saw that she herself had twenty seconds left.

"Plenty of time!" she proclaimed, as Unit Two charged toward the last MP Evangelion still standing. "Plenty of time for one more kill!"

_Finish him!_ The soul of Unit Two ordered in a resonant voice.

With a thought from Asuka, a small compartment opened inside the plug, and the Second Child pulled out something that looked suspiciously like a video game controller. The redheaded EVA pilot rapidly pushed a series of buttons, and Unit Two went sprinting off towards its foe.

The last harpy tried to block her assault, but it was like a person trying to halt a freight train. She battered its arms aside effortlessly and plunged Unit Two's right hand into its neck. Asuka could _feel_ it as Unit Two wrapped its hand around something hard and cylindrical.

With a savage scream, she pulled with all of her Evangelion's enormous might, and the MP EVA's spinal cord exploded out of its body in a shower of blood, taking with it a huge amount of still quivering muscle tissue, and, more important by far, the Dummy Plug.

_FATALITY!_ Kyoko shouted triumphantly.

* * *

Battle Royale

"Are you really sure this is necessary, Hikari?" Shinji asked for what felt like the thousandth time.

Spirit sighed. "First of all, call me Spirit when I have my wings out," she said. "And secondly, yes, it is. I'm afraid this is by far the least destructive means of deciding this issue, Shinji."

"But shouldn't _I_ get some say in this?" Shinji asked pleadingly.

"Ideally, yes," Spirit replied. "However, given the circumstances, this is the best way to work this out without the risk of destroying what's left of Japan."

"But—"

"Sorry, Shinji, but it's almost time to start," Spirit said.

Shinji sighed, looking down at the large adamantium cage that was far below him. Fifteen feet below him to be exact. Shinji Ikari was tied up and suspended from the high ceiling, with a sign that read "The Prize" taped to his chest.

Spirit landed lightly on the ground and picked up a referee's shirt with black and white vertical stripes. It had the letters "WWF" on the right breast and slits had been cut in the back for her wings. The silver haired girl put it on and then flew high into the air again.

"The following contest is a Hell in a Cell match and it scheduled for one fall!" she shouted out at the cheering crowd. "Entering first into the arena..."

The audience roared its approval as the various other superwomen entered the cage, many waving around signs with their favorite lady's name on it. When they were all present, Spirit rang the bell, and the brawl to end all brawls began inside the massive cage.

Shinji sighed as he watched the carnage play out, the sheer _awesomeness_ of having a bunch of beautiful superwomen fight tooth and nail over him totally lost on the Third Child.

"I never have any control over my life," he said morosely.


	23. Epilogue

Disclaimer: Neon Genesis Evangelion is the creation of Anno and Gainax. I don't own it, make no claims to it, and am making no profit from the fan fiction. No infringement of copyright is intended. In other words, please don't sue.

* * *

Epilogue

An unfamiliar ceiling was the first thing Hikari Horaki saw when her eyes fluttered open. Blinking, she looked around and saw that she was in a hospital room. Quickly, Hikari jumped out of bed and headed for the window, dimly noting that while she felt stiff, her body was no longer in pain like it had been when she'd passed out.

The window showed the city of Tokyo-3 outside, not the Geofront like she'd expected. In the distance, Hikari could see a large number of cranes and other construction equipment working busily to patch up the huge hole that the N2 mine had blown into the Geofront's roof.

_Okay, I'm not in NERV Medical,_ she thought. _I wonder how I got here. At least I got a good night's sleep. Even waking up wasn't so…_

Her eyes widened suddenly as Hikari realized that she couldn't sense Lilith. The Second Angel had been emitting a call that was impossible for her to tell apart from Adam's until she'd been face to face with Lilith. Whether or not the Second Angel had been doing such in an attempt to lead Adam's children to their doom or just gave off such a call by her nature, Hikari had no clue. However, she knew she should have been able to hear it, should have woken up and had to resist the call as she'd been doing for months now.

_Did they destroy Lilith while I was asleep?_ Hikari wondered. _Or did…?_

A truly terrible thought occurred to her then. What if NERV had somehow stripped her of her Angelic side while she'd been out? It would make sense; they didn't need her help to destroy the Angels anymore, and they probably wouldn't want someone as powerful as Spirit running around loose.

Hikari had been terrified when the wings had first emerged from her back, but now the idea that they never would again sent ice through her.

_I have wings!_ She thought.

The feathery appendages burst from her back as faithfully as they always had, mercifully not destroying the green hospital gown she was wearing in the process. She breathed a sigh of relief.

_I don't have wings,_ she thought, and transformed back to her human form.

With that crisis over with, Hikari walked back over to her bed and pushed the button to call the nurse, deciding that it was time to find out what had been going on while she'd been unconscious.

* * *

The door hissed slightly as it slid open and allowed Misato access to the command center. "Status report?" she asked calmly.

"The repairs to Unit Three were successful, despite the damage done to it having exceeded the Henflick limit," Maya said. "Cryo-freezing is scheduled to commence within the hour."

"Good," Misato said.

Things had been rather…hectic in the aftermath of what Misato fervently hoped was the final battle of Tokyo-3. Once the news of the incredibly brutal attack had come out, it had sparked a scandal which had forced the Prime Minister and the Secretary of the Interior to resign in disgrace. The UN was covering up some of what had happened in the name of preventing a panic. Misato thought it was foolish, but at the end of the day, she was just glad that she and her charges had emerged from the fires of war alive.

The members of the Human Instrumentality Committee had all seemingly vanished from the face of the Earth, save Chairman Keel, whose cybernetic implants had finally failed him. He had been found dead in his home, clutching a briefcase filled with small, unmarked bills. A massive manhunt had been launched to find the remaining members and bring them to justice.

The UN, after a period of collective shock at how close the world had come to ending, had ordered Tokyo-2 to restore NERV's legal protection, but had also demanded NERV put the remaining EVA Units into indefinite cryo-stasis. Misato had no objections to that order.

"I hear that the politicians in the UN General Assembly are already developing pretty euphemisms for our job now that the war with the Angels is over," Aoba spoke up. "They're calling us the 'Custodians of Evangelion' or something like that."

"NERV has no function anymore, besides guarding the Second Angel and keeping it a secret," Makoto said. "We're going to become a very do-nothing organization it seems, and they need to justify our continued funding."

"Typical politicians," Misato said, rolling her eyes. "Without having to maintain the EVA's or fight battles, NERV will only need a fraction of the money it did before, but they still have to make excuses as to why they're keeping us around."

Makoto shrugged. "Well, I'm sure it must seem strange to the public, especially since all the other branches are being disbanded," he said. "I'm just glad I won't be out of a job."

The door hissed open again, and Ritsuko Akagi entered the command center. Misato kept her face blank at the faux blonde entered, having mixed feeling for her former friend.

On the one hand, Ritsuko had aided and abetted Commander Ikari's terrible plots. Indeed, she was only still a free woman because she'd gleefully sung like a canary to the authorities about Gendo and SEELE's scenarios, and because she was the world's leading computer scientist.

On the other hand, though, Misato couldn't help but feel pity for Ritsuko as she learned, one piece of information at a time, how badly she'd been used and abused by Gendo. Misato doubted that they'd ever be friends again, but she could live with having the woman around.

"Have you heard the news?" Ritsuko asked, waving around a newspaper.

"You'll have to be more specific than that, Ritsuko," Misato said. "A lot has happened in very short period of time."

"Of course," Ritsuko said, looking slightly sheepish. "I meant the news from The Hague. A lot of law experts have been analyzing Ikari's case. Seems that if he's lucky, he'll only get fifty life sentences in which to stew over the fact that a teenage girl in a miniskirt wrecked all his plans."

Misato couldn't help but smirk. "You're really very pleased with yourself now about dumping that LCL into the lake, aren't you?"

"Best mistake I ever made," Ritsuko agreed. "It said in the paper that if they find Ikari guilty—which is pretty much a given—they're going to keep him in super maximum security. Twenty-three hours a day alone in a small, windowless room."

"Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy," Misato commented. "It's just a pity they don't execute people in The Hague."

"Execution might be more merciful," Ritsuko commented.

"Hmm?"

Before she could make a reply, Ritsuko's cell phone went off and she answered, hanging up after only a brief conversation.

"What's up?" Misato asked when the call was finished.

"Our special patient in Tokyo-3 Memorial Hospital is awake," Ritsuko said.

* * *

Hikari paced about her small hospital room in agitation, wondering what the heck was going on. The nurses had refused to tell her anything, except that someone would be along soon to explain everything to her. The pair of security guards waiting outside her door weren't exactly doing anything for her composure, either.

Of course, they couldn't hold if she didn't want to remain where she was, but Hikari wasn't keen on the idea of flying out the window or fighting her way out in her hospital gown.

The door suddenly opened and Hikari immediately stopped pacing and looked up. "Dr. Akagi?" she asked, pulling the memory of the faux blonde's name out of her memory with some effort.

The scientist nodded. "Yes, that's me," she confirmed. "And you're Hikari Horaki. You know, I must say that it was rather clever on your part to hide right under NERV's nose, befriending the pilots like that."

That wasn't the reason she'd made friends with the EVA pilots, but Hikari didn't see the point in telling Akagi as much. "Uh, thank you," she said. "How long have I been out?"

"Oh, about four days," Akagi answered. "Sorry about keeping you here and not in NERV Medical, but the base is crawling with UN inspectors, and we didn't want them to find you."

Hikari's eyes widened. "Four…days? I haven't been able to sleep for more than four hours at a time ever since I first, uh, changed."

"Interesting," Akagi said, making a note on a clipboard she was carrying. "I suspect you were out so long because your S2 organ was slightly damaged, either from overuse or trauma sustained in the battle. After you passed out, it apparently dedicated all its energy toward repairing itself, and—"

"Wait, wait…S2 organ?" Hikari asked.

Ritsuko spent next several minutes lecturing Hikari about the changes to her anatomy that absorbing Angelic DNA had caused. Hikari listened raptly, feeling particularly shocked to discover that Spirit had been born from an act of illegal chemical dumping ordered by Akagi herself.

"Any questions?" Akagi asked when she had finished.

"Why can't I sense Lilith?" Hikari asked. "I've been able to ever since the Thirteenth Angel, but since I woke up, I haven't felt a thing."

"Ah," Ritsuko said, looking pleased that Hikari had asked. "I'm responsible for that. I was able to use Ikari's notes to flush the part of the Thirteenth Angel in you out of your system."

"What?"

Ritsuko nodded. "As I'm sure you know, the Rei clone possessed DNA from the Fourth, Fifth, Ninth, and Twelfth Angels, as well as the same Adam DNA you have. Gendo attempted to add DNA from the Thirteenth Angel as well, but it never worked as he intended, due to the parasitic nature of that Angel. Rather than just absorbing the DNA, a small amount of the viscous substance that composed the Angel formed inside her body. Rei III started reporting a near overwhelming urge to become one with Adam, and at that point, Ikari had no choice but to figure out how to remove the Thirteenth Angel matter in Rei III."

"I see," Hikari said. "So…"

"You won't be taking control of the base's defenses again, but unless you head down to the Geofront, you won't have to deal with your new instincts blaring at you to become one with Lilith," Ritsuko summarized.

"Thank you," Hikari said. "So, what's going to happen now?"

"Well, NERV can't really allow a being as powerful as you to just run around unrestrained," Ritsuko said. "There was some talk about removing your S2 organ, which would render you unable to use any of your powers…"

Hikari's eyes widened.

"However, we suspect that your body's grown so used to it that its removal would slowly kill you. Obviously, that's not an option," Ritsuko said with a wry smile. "I think Misato's considering putting you on the NERV payroll."

Hikari blinked. "Really?"

Akagi nodded. "Yes. From what I understand, you'll essentially be drawing a pay check to not destroy Tokyo-3."

"I…I think I can do that," Hikari said, still a little stunned at the idea of technically becoming a member of NERV in the near future. "Can I go home now?"

"Not yet," Ritsuko said. "We're going to be keeping you here a few days for observation, just to be on the safe side. We know so little about true nephilim anatomy, despite Ikari's notes."

"But I feel fine," Hikari protested.

"Good for you," Akagi replied.

Hikari sighed and sat down on her bed as Akagi left.

* * *

_The Hague_

Andrew Loeffel hummed quietly to himself as he pushed a small cart down the hallways of the super maximum security area of the prison, more to ward off the creepy silence of the place than anything else. Very few people were held in super maximum security, and those prisoners tended to be unusually quiet.

He reached one of the few occupied cells and knocked on the armored door before slipping a tray of food through a slot at the bottom of it. "Dinner time, Kozo," he said in halting Japanese.

The old man's face appeared at the small, barred window of his cell. "Arigato, Andrew-kun."

Loeffel smiled. Despite knowing what Fuyutski had been a party to, he couldn't help but like the man. The old gentlemen just reminded him of too many of his former teachers. Besides, he got the impression that the former Vice Commander was actually relieved that the horrible plans for Instrumentally had failed.

Fuyutski pushed out the empty tray from lunch, which Loeffel took and put on his cart. "Would you like me to bring the library cart by again tomorrow?" he asked.

"No, thank you," Fuyutski replied. "I don't expect to be finished with the book I'm reading now until the day after tomorrow at the earliest."

Loeffel nodded. "Very well. Good evening, Kozo."

"Good night, Andrew."

Loeffel then proceeded further down the hall, to the other prisoner he had to feed. He banged on the door and then slid the tray of food under it. "Dinner time, Ikari," he announced in much more gruff tone than he used with Fuyutski.

Gendo Ikari responded with a harsh burst of Japanese that came out too quickly for Loeffel to translate. He was fairly certain that the prisoner was cursing, however. With a sigh, Loeffel peered into the window in Gendo's cell door.

The walls had long since been covered in badly drawn pictures of winged girls, most of whom were being killed in rather grisly ways. The sight always left Loeffel amused and exasperated at the same time. It exasperated him because he suspected that Ikari was trying to get off with an insanity plea of some kind, not that he had any chance in succeeding. The amusement stemmed from the fact that Gendo Ikari had arguably been the most powerful man in the world once, and was now reduced to venting his impotent rage by doodling on his cell walls.

Gendo said something to his jailer, but again it was spoken too quickly for Loeffel to translate.

"Speak more slowly," Loeffel ordered. "I didn't catch any of that."

"I don't want food," Gendo said, waving around the stump of his right arm hand before realizing there was no fist there and switching to his left. "I want the treatment for—!"

The bearded man doubled over in pain before he could finished, and Loeffel almost felt sorry for him. Truly, Gendo Ikari was in a terrible state; in addition to the frequent and intense pain he had to deal with, the man often woke up screaming and was prone to violent shaking and cold sweats. None of the doctors they had on hand had any clue as to what his condition was, but Gendo claimed that it was an effect of having been joined with and then separated from the First Angel.

He also claimed that he had developed a cure for his condition, and that NERV Central possessed it.

"We've contacted NERV. I told you this already," Loeffel said. "The head of Technical Division One said she didn't have any idea what you were talking about."

"Akagi is lying!" Gendo barked.

_Probably, but if you expect anyone to take one step out of their way to prove it and get you this cure, you are shit out of luck,_ Loeffel thought.

"Good evening, Ikari," Loeffel said, walking off, leaving Gendo to draw scenes of a woman in a lab coat getting shot on his cell walls.

* * *

Hikari expected her stay in Tokyo-3 Memorial Hospital to be boring in the extreme. Her expectations were not met, thanks to a number of rather interesting visits she had, the first of which was no surprise but still yielded some interesting facts.

"Nee-chan!" Nozomi exclaimed as she burst into the room, Kodama following behind her.

Hikari turned off the TV and got out of bed and to her feet just in time for Nozomi to crash into her. "Woah, Nozomi-chan, what…?" she trailed off as she realized that Nozomi was crying into her gown. "What's wrong?"

"She's just relieved," Kodama said, setting a small suitcase down next to Hikari's bed. "You gave us both quite a scare when you never came back to the shelter. We thought we'd lost you for a while there."

"I'm sorry," Hikari said. "I didn't mean to worry you."

Nozomi giggled through her tears, apparently starting to regain her composure. "You saved the whole world, nee-chan. You don't have anything to apologize for," she said, then grinned rather wickedly. "Though Dad might think differently…"

Hikari's eyes widened. "Dad knows?"

Kodama nodded. "Yes, NERV contacted him and told him about who you were after they checked you in here."

"Yeah, he was _really_ mad when he found out!" Nozomi said, looking positively delighted at the idea of Hikari actually being in trouble for once.

Kodama lightly smacked Nozomi on the back on the head, and the youngest sister gave the eldest a scowl but didn't say anything.

"Was he really that angry?" Hikari asked, biting her lower lip.

"Well, yes, but we managed to calm him down eventually," Kodama said. "It took a lot of effort…"

"You owe us one by the way," Nozomi piped up, earning another light smack from Kodama.

"Dad was rather stubborn about the whole thing. He just didn't want to stop being angry at you for risking yourself like that, no matter how many times we tried to convince him you had to," Kodama said. "It was rather amazing, really."

Hikari suddenly had a flashback to Kodama all but shrieking "They tried to nuke you!" over and over again after the battle against the Seventh Angel and sweat dropped.

"I _think_ he finally saw logic after the five hundredth time we reminded him that if you hadn't done what you did, the world would have ended, probably several times over," Kodama said. "That you also saved him from getting gunned down during the attack and making orphans of us helped, too. In any case, he promised not to confront you about this until he'd calmed down, so don't feel hurt if he doesn't come to visit you soon."

Hikari nodded. "I see. Thanks for speaking to Dad for me."

"Welcome. Anyway, I brought you some stuff to make your stay here a little more bearable," Kodama said, gesturing toward the suitcase she'd brought. "Some of your clothes so you can get out of that hospital gown, and some books and stuff to keep you from dying of boredom."

Hikari frowned. "What about my homework?"

"No homework. The school got blown up!" Nozomi said, looking jubilant.

"I believe they said that it'll be rebuilt in time for next term," Kodama said, taking obvious pleasure in raining on Nozomi's parade.

* * *

"Hello, Rei, how are you?" Hikari asked cheerfully, both glad to see Rei and glad to have some company.

"I am well, thank you," Rei said with a small smile before she frowned pensively. "However, is it not appropriate for me to be asking you that, since you are the one in the hospital?"

Hikari smiled. "I'm doing fine," she said. "I'm just bored and wish I could get out of here."

Rei nodded. "I believe Dr. Akagi will approve your release soon, if your condition remains normal," she said.

"I hope so," Hikari said fervently. "So, what's been going on with you?"

Rei smiled softly. "Major Katsuragi is currently undergoing the process of becoming my new guardian, now that Commander Ikari is incarcerated," she said. "Also, Asuka and I are friends again."

Hikari blinked. "Really?"

"Yes, after discovering that you are Spirit—"

"Woah, what?" Hikari interrupted. "Now _Asuka_ knows, too?"

Rei nodded. "Yes. Major Katsuragi found out that I knew and then mistakenly assumed that you had told Shinji and Asuka as well. Please, do not think ill of her. She was exhausted from working for well over twenty-four hours to return order to the base and the city when she made this mistake."

"So they both know?" Hikari asked, rubbing her temples as she wondered what would be said the next time she and Asuka met.

"Yes," Rei said. "Much of Asuka's hostility toward me stemmed from her belief that I had sided with someone I didn't really even know over her. After realizing that this was not the case, she came and apologized to me for how she treated me, then asked if we could be friends again."

"Asuka apologized to you?" Hikari asked skeptically.

Rei nodded, her tiny smile widening into a small smirk. "Saying the words 'gomen nasai' appeared to bring her physical pain."

Hikari couldn't help but laugh at that, finding it very easy to believe. She then sobered as she remembered something. "Rei…I'm sorry about killing your, uh, sister. She didn't leave me much choice, but still…"

"I understand," Rei said. "You did as you had to."

"I didn't hate her," Hikari suddenly blurted out, not sure what motivated her to say that.

"Nor did I," Rei said. "I was that blindly loyal to Commander Ikari once, so I cannot hate her. However, I'm not that way anymore, thanks largely in part to you."

Hikari smiled, feeling relieved that Rei didn't resent her for killing the clone. She supposed it had been a foolish fear; Rei had been the one who told her to destroy Rei III, after all. Still, she'd felt anxious about it until now.

Silence fell for a few moments, neither of them quite sure what to say next. At last, Rei spoke up. "I will leave now," she said. "I will see you when you are released. Good-bye."

"Bye, Rei," Hikari said.

_I am really going to have to figure out how to teach that girl to gossip one day,_ Hikari mused as Rei left.

The First Child was gone for no more than twenty seconds when there was a knock at Hikari's door.

"Come in," Hikari said, expecting that Rei was coming back for some reason.

The door opened and Shinji entered, looking slightly nervous. "Hello, Hikari," he said.

"Shinji," she said, quickly masking her surprise. "It's good to see you. Are you all right? You weren't hurt during the attack, were you?"

"No, I'm fine," Shinji said. "The whole thing was pretty insane, though. For a while I thought that Rei had been killed, and then I find out that my father was trying to start Third Impact."

Hikari winced. She sometimes forgot that Gendo Ikari was Shinji's father, not just the guy who was trying to repay her for her help by attacking her. "I'm sorry about that."

Shinji shook his head. "It's okay. I stopped expecting anything from him a long time ago."

Hikari nodded and an uncomfortable silence descended.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Shinji at last scraped up the nerve to ask. "That you were Spirit, I mean. I never would have told my father or anyone about it."

"Um, well, I considered it, but, well, you were so bad at keeping NERV's secrets…" Hikari trailed off, looking sheepish.

Shinji blinked, and, to Hikari's surprise, he laughed. She had been expecting him to look stung.

"After I gave away my status as an EVA pilot the first time someone asked, I guess I can't blame you," he said. "In fact, I might not have trusted me with a secret like that, either."

Hikari let out a small sigh of relief. "I'm glad you understand."

He nodded. "Anyway, I wanted to thank you for all the help you gave us during the war," Shinji said. "I don't know how a lot of the battles would have gone without your help, and I don't really want to know."

Hikari smiled. "You're welcome."

Shinji smiled. "By the way, have you ever wanted to see Europe?"

Hikari blinked. "Huh?"

* * *

Asuka took a deep breath before she barged into Hikari's hospital room, belatedly realizing that she hadn't knocked first. Fortunately, she didn't walk in on Hikari changing or anything embarrassing like that. The class rep was sitting on her bed, reading a paperback book.

"Asuka," Hikari greeted, her tone uncertain as she put down her book and stood up.

"Hello, Hikari," Asuka said.

The Second Child didn't immediately say anything, instead pacing around the room in agitation. Hikari actually took this as a good sign. If Asuka intended to start yelling at her and end their friendship, she would have come in swinging.

"Why did you do it?" Asuka asked at last.

"Because I wanted to help you, even if you didn't want my help," Hikari replied. "I was never trying to make you feel angry or inadequate, I swear I wasn't. I was just trying to help my friends."

Asuka just continued to pace around the room.

"Are you angry at me?" Hikari asked at last.

"No. I…I tried to be," Asuka confessed. "I shouldn't have, but I couldn't seem to help it. But I can't fool myself into thinking that I never needed your help. Against the Fifteenth and the Sixteenth…as bad as those battles were for me, I know they would've been worse if not for you. Never mind all the other fights you helped in."

Admitting all this gave Asuka a rather sour look, as if she'd been sucking on a lemon. Hikari wondered if this was how she'd appeared while apologizing to Rei.

The Second Child sighed and faced the window. "It actually makes it better, though," she commented, facing the window. "It's a lot easier for me to accept help from my friend, rather than some random girl who was just looking for glory."

Hikari smiled, easily able to see the hidden message in the redhead's words. "I'm glad we're still friends, Asuka."

Asuka turned toward her a smiled back. "I'd ask you why you never told me, but I guess _that_ one's pretty obvious, huh?"

"Yeah," Hikari agreed with a chuckle. "So, want to head to the mall when they finally let me out of here?"

Asuka's smile suddenly faded. "I can't," she said. "I'm going back to Germany tomorrow."

"What?"

Asuka nodded. "My father and step-mother demanded I return. They want to make me go to therapy now that the war's finished."

The look of disgust on Asuka's face made it clear what she thought about going to therapy. Hikari decided to leave it unsaid that she thought Asuka could probably use it, after what the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Angels had put her through.

"So this is good-bye, then?" Hikari asked.

"Nah, not forever, anyway," Asuka said. "I'll be back."

"Huh?"

Asuka smiled. "I'll make my way back here eventually. Nothing can stop Asuka Langley Soryu when she puts her mind to something," she said. "Misato's already said she'd be willing to take me in again if I can get my parents to allow it."

"I'll be glad to see you come back, of course, but why would you rather live here?" Hikari asked, confused.

"I never got along very well with my parents," Asuka said, "and Germany never really felt like home to me, at least not since my real mother died. Misato's place does, Gott help me. Even living with baka Shinji feels like home."

Hikari smirked. "Careful, Asuka. Rei likes him, too, you know. You'd better make your way back here quickly, or she'll beat you to it."

Asuka scowled darkly but didn't deny anything. "Anyway, I'll be going now," she said. "I'm leaving tomorrow morning, so this is probably the last time we'll see each other for a while."

The two girls embraced, saying their good-byes.

* * *

Hikari's last caller was the one she'd wanted and feared seeing the most, even more so than Asuka. Toji Suzuhara arrived to visit her on the afternoon of the day Asuka left for her homeland.

"Oh, Toji, hi," she said nervously as she gestured for him to come inside her room.

The Fourth Child didn't say anything for a long moment, just looking at her nervously while he tried to reconcile the fact that the girl in front of him and Spirit were one and the same. It just seemed so unbelievable, but he'd seen the truth himself down in the EVA graveyard.

Hikari bit her lip as the silence dragged on, wondering what he was thinking about. Was he angry with her for keeping her secret from him? Did he think she'd just been playing with his emotions when she flirted with him as Spirit? And, most importantly, did he like Spirit but not Hikari?

"Toji?" she asked, finally unable to stand the silence any longer.

He started, realizing that he'd just been standing there like an idiot. "Was it really you? The whole time?" he blurted out, then felt like smacking himself for asking such a dumb question.

Hikari looked away. "Yes, Spirit was always me," she said. "But…"

She didn't want to tell him; she was afraid that he'd lose interest in her when she did, but there was no denying it.

"But?" Toji prompted.

"I like you," Hikari forced out, the warmth in her cheeks being replaced by blazing heat, "and I know you liked Spirit, too. But I can't be her around you, not anymore. I was only to act that bold around you because you didn't know who I really was. Now that you know…"

"I…I see," Toji said.

Hikari eyes slid closed and she bowed her head, feeling empty and numb. _I knew it._

"So, are you doing anything Saturday?" Toji asked. "Uh, assuming that they let you out of here by then, that is."

Hikari's head snapped up and she looked at him with wide eyes. "You mean…?"

Toji grinned sheepishly and rubbed the back of his neck. "I liked, uh, like you both," he said. "It's actually a big relief, that I don't have to choose. So…how about I come pick you up at seven on Saturday?"

Hikari smiled broadly, and Toji actually felt a little lightheaded by the sight. "It's a date."

"All right. Cool," he said, trying to act casual and not exactly succeeding. "I'll see you then, I guess."

"Toji?" Hikari spoke up before he could leave. "If you had had to pick between Hikari and Spirit, which one would you have chosen? Please, be honest."

He grinned. "Well, I had been thinking about asking you…uh, you Hikari, out for a while now. I probably would have, but I was afraid that Spirit would kick my ass if she found out."

Hikari laughed, then walked toward Toji, grabbed two handfuls of his shirt, and pulled him forward into a deep kiss. The jock's eyes widened to the size of saucers for a moment before he closed them and just enjoyed it, slowly putting his arms around her.

"See you on Saturday," Hikari said when they at last parted.

"Yeah, Saturday," Toji agreed, hoping she couldn't tell how woozy he felt at the moment.

The Fourth Child managed to make it out of her room and shut the door behind him before he started staggering around like a drunk man, which, from a certain perspective, he was. Toji felt that this was quite an accomplishment.

"Okay," he muttered to himself. "I can totally believe that they're the same person now."

* * *

_One month later…_

"Well, you're in a good mood," Kodama commented, watching as Hikari hummed a cheery tune to herself while she worked on dinner.

"She's just happy because she has a date with her _boyfriend_ tomorrow," Nozomi said with a smirk.

"Be nice, Nozomi-chan," Hikari chided, her good mood still quite intact. "Do you want me to tease you when _you_ get a boyfriend?"

Nozomi made a face at the very thought and the two older girls shared a knowing smirk.

"So, you two seem to be going out a lot lately," Kodama said to Hikari with a smile. "Getting along quite well with this boy, aren't you?"

_Yes,_ Hikari thought with a grin.

"Well, we both just have a lot of free time on our hands, with the school still being a rebuilt and everything," Hikari said, not wanting to give Kodama any gratification for her prying.

"Right," Kodama grinned. "Which is why you're going on a European vacation with the boy soon."

"It's not just going to be the two of us!" Hikari protested. "All the other EVA pilots are going, too. We're even going to go to Germany first to get Asuka, and I think Kensuke is coming along, too. And, of course, Miss Katsuragi is coming to chaperone everything."

Hikari left it unsaid that, knowing Misato, she suspected that the woman was as likely to encourage inappropriate behavior as not. Her sisters didn't need to know that, however.

Kodama smirked. "As much as I'm sure one woman can keep an eye on six teenagers all at once—"

She was cut off as Hikari's cell phone rang, much to the relief of the middle Horaki girl. Hikari quickly took the phone out of her pocket and looked at the caller ID screen. It read "NERV Cmdr."

"Moshi moshi," Hikari said as she answered it.

"Hello, Hikari," Misato greeted. "Listen, our radars have detected a small force of tanks approaching Tokyo-3 from the west, and they aren't responding to any of our hails. We suspect that they're a mercenary group hired by one of the members of SEELE that's still at large and looking for revenge. We need the unanimous consent from the Security Council to unfreeze an EVA, which isn't going to happen. I need you to go and scare them off."

"Not a problem," Hikari assured her, pleased that she would be getting the chance to actually earn her absurd salary from NERV for once.

"What's up?" Kodama asked as Hikari ended the call.

"Duty calls," Hikari answered. "I need you to turn off the stove in a half hour from now and then turn off the oven in forty-five minutes, okay? I should be back in time for dinner."

With that, Hikari removed the apron she was wearing and then headed up to her room to change.

Kodama traded a glance with Nozomi. "Was it the pot I'm supposed to turn off in a half hour, or the fish?"

Nozomi just shrugged.

* * *

"There," Misato said as she hung up her cell phone. "She ought to be able to take care of those tanks no problem. SEELE should know better than to try and mess with us again."

"Commander, should I signal an evacuation and transform the city?" Makoto asked.

"Not yet," Misato said. "If the enemy gets within ten kilometers of the city limits, then go ahead, but I doubt they'll make it that far."

"It's a good thing Spirit's on our side," Maya commented. "Who knows where we'd be without her?"

"We'd be dead," Aoba said flatly, drawing a few snickers from the other technicians.

"You know," Ritsuko spoke up, "with Gendo's notes, we could theoretically transform the entire human species in the same manner that Spirit was transformed. Artificially continuing the evolution of mankind _was_ the stated purpose of the Human Instrumentality Project, after all."

"That may be true, but I don't think humanity's ready for that kind of power yet," Misato said.

"Spirit was," Ritsuko pointed out.

"But there are others who wouldn't be. Gendo and SEELE prove that much," Misato said. "I don't think we should actively try and spread Angelic genes. Besides, that will probably happen on its own, unless you'd like to tell the girl who can destroy Angels without an EVA that she's not ever allowed to have children."

"Uh, no, I'll pass, thanks," Ritsuko said.

Misato nodded with a grin. "I thought you'd feel that way," she said. "Spirit's special, in more ways than one. I think we should let her remain that way, so we'll be keeping Gendo's notes a secret for a long, long time."

* * *

Back in the Horaki home, Hikari had just finished putting on her costume. She smiled as she opened her window, seeing no potential witnesses.

_I have wings,_ she thought, just before Spirit soared off into the sky.

* * *

Author's Notes: And thus ends "Superwomen of Eva: Spirit." I hope nobody minds the rather sedate epilogue. There just wasn't much left to do besides hand out rewards and punishments accordingly and then send our heroine flying off into the sunset.

Anyway, though her own story may be over, you haven't seen the last of Spirit. A couple of other authors have asked me about using her in their own writings, and she'll be in "Heroes United!" of course. And before you ask, I don't know anything more about it than what I've read in orionpax09's author's notes.

Shinji's romantic future is left up in the air, but it's certain that he has one, at least. I wanted to leave it this way, both because it's not his story (I've turned into a broken record on this point, I know) and because I didn't want one of the ladies to have him in two SOE stories before "Heroes United!" is even begun. It just didn't seem fair.

Originally, I was going to have Lilith be destroyed at the end, but then orionpax09 began to portray her as a benevolent figure, so I decided it would be better if I left the Second Angel unscathed. I couldn't leave Hikari as she was, waking up in a cold sweat everyday, so I had Ritsuko undo what the Thirteenth Angel had done to her.

Anyway, one last thing before I conclude this very long author's rambling...er, note. A few of you have asked what plans I have for my next fic now that this is done. That depends, actually. You see, I've been wanting to do a remake of gunman's "Misato's Second Childhood" since before I started this story. I need his permission before I can post anything, and I sent him a few messages recently asking for it. However, I haven't gotten any response. I don't suppose any of you, my very wonderful readers, are in touch with him?

Konous the grey, you know, when I was writing the last chapter, I never even thought that anyone who was asking to see berserk Unit One would react to berserk Unit Two that way. I can understand where you're coming from, but yeah, it had to be Asuka and Unit Two that won that battle.

Orion, heh, I had that omake in mind ever since I made that comment. I'm glad I've given you ideas for Spirit in "Heroes United!" I kind of figured it might be helpful to have a way to power her up in that fic, since a lot of the more recent superwomen have been so powerful.

Thanks to all my readers and reviewers.

* * *

Omakes

Toji no baka!

"Toji?" Hikari spoke up before he could leave. "If you had had to pick between Hikari and Spirit, which one would you have chosen? Please, be honest."

He grinned. "Well, I had been thinking about asking you…uh, you Hikari, out for a while now. I probably would have, but I was afraid that Spirit would kick my ass if she found out."

Hikari laughed, then walked toward Toji.

He spoke just before she could grab a handful of his shirt and pull him into a kiss. "But, uh, I don't suppose you could dress as Spirit sometimes? Because you look _really_ hot in that!" he said with a lecherous grin.

"Ack! Hentai!" Hikari shouted.

She hit him with a giant mallet, easily sending him flying into the wall even though she was still in her human form. A large section of drywall was dented, and Toji went sliding down to the floor with a groan.

Hikari gasped. "Toji! Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry! Are you okay?" she then noticed the mallet in her hand and frowned in confusion. "Where did this come from? Hey, looks like I have a new power! Yatta!"

* * *

My Heart Bleeds for You

"Hi, guys," Toji greeted Shinji and Kensuke before he practically collapsed in his seat at their usual lunch table.

Kensuke blinked. "Toji? You okay, man? You look exhausted!"

Toji chuckled, leaning his face on his hand and closing his eyes. "I'm beat. It turns out that Hikari only ever sleeps four hours a night. Guess what she wants to do with the other four?"

Kensuke's eye twitched. "Are you complaining about too much…?"

"It was awesome at first!" Toji all but wailed. "But I just can't keep up with her. That S2 organ thingy she has makes it totally impossible. I haven't had a good night's sleep in weeks! I've been falling asleep standing up recently!"

Toji blinked when Shinji held out a hand and then did the "playing the world's smallest violin" gesture.

"Shinji?" Toji asked, looking up and realizing that Shinji looked even more wiped out than he felt.

"SHIN-CHAN!"

Shinji paled and then dove under the table. Seconds later, the Silver Surfer and the Ghost Rider flew over the schoolyard, both of them searching for him. After failing to find the Third Child, the two of them flew off.

"Are they gone?" Shinji asked softly as he came out from under the table.

"Yeah, but…"

A massive green hand suddenly grabbed the Third Child's collar and lifted him high off his feet. Shinji gulped as he was brought eye to eye with an eight foot tall Amazon.

"Shin-chan should no hide," the She-Hulk said. "Shin-chan should know…that She-Hulk SNUGGLE!"

She placed the boy between her massive breasts, pinning him snuggly in place, then leapt into the air and was gone.

"Poor guy," Toji commented.

Kensuke scowled darkly. "Bastards the both of you," he grumbled.


End file.
